Nina's Discipline

Flying Beneath the Trees

Flying Beneath the Trees

"They're still there..." Manon moaned, sinking down deeper into her seat on the boat.

"Seriously?" Nina growled at her place at the controls that she had taken over with the coming of the dawn.

Addie, who was supposed to be resting now, could only stare backwards off the stern of the dinghy towards the warship that was still steadily advancing on them.

The two ships were massively different sizes. Their speedboat could probably fit into one of the rooms of the warship. Which was a novel idea to Erec, in and of itself. Less novel, however, was the knowledge that the two ships were nearly equal in speed.

The dinghy was smaller, and it was specifically built to outpace other ships. The warship was larger, but it was built to chase down fast ships. The two of them were locked into a battle of speed to see who would run out of fuel first. Unfortunately, for all that Didier's ship came with bigger engines that required more fuel and steam, their smaller dinghy would be the boat that would give up first. And, at the rate they were fleeing, there would be no chance to stop in Isaie.

And, if they couldn't refuel in Isaie, they would crash into the plains near the border mountains before they ever got close to South Gate.

"I'm open to suggestions," Nina called out to the others, steering the ship towards a dark forest coming towards them on the horizon. If the map Addie had was correct, the forest was impressively wide and Isaei sat on the far side of it.

Which would mean nothing if Didier was still on their tail by the time they reached it.

"Maybe we should just stop?" Gael suggested peacefully. "We might be able to talk our way out of any trouble. It might not even be that bad."

"He's been chasing us all night. Nonstop." Erec's tired, narrowed eyes remained fixed on the ship. "I highly doubt he'd expend that much in the way of resources just to chase us down so he can let us go if he catches us."

"Why is he chasing us at all?" Manon asked, holding onto herself out of fear. What possible reason could he have to come after her. Unless...

"Oh, Lord!" She put her hands over her ears, shaking her head. "What if Jack went back on his word? What if he's chasing me now because he wants to kill me?!"

"Manon, calm down." Gael put his arm around her, tucking her into his side. For such a small, unimposing man, he did a wonderful job of being a comforting, encircling presence. "We don't know anything yet. For all we know, it's a complete coincidence that he's chasing after us. He might be on his way to Isaie as well."

"At full speed?" She gave him an incredulous look. She might be frightened, but she hadn't lost her wits to the fear yet.

"It could be very important business in Isaie."

Groaning, she dropped her head down into her hands. She shook it slowly, as if trying to just deny everything outright.

"Now, now." Addie patted her back with a bright smile. "He's right. Until we know for sure, we can't say anything."

"How are we going to find out anything for sure without him catching us?" Manon's voice was muffled and difficult to understand as she kept her face in her hands.

"Well, the sun's officially up." Grinning, Addie reached for her bag. She dug inside it for a moment before coming up with a telescope. Throwing herself back, she leaned against the stern and fixed the spy glass to her eye.

"What do you see?" Nina asked immediately.

"Blurs. Give me a second. Impatient much?" Grumbling, Addie twisted the body of the glass to bring her vision into better view. "Ah, there we are."