Outworld Liberators-Chapter 21: Squeezed Every Possible Finds

Radeon watched the array masters at work. Ink stained fingers flicked through talisman papers while brushes scratched frantic lines, every stroke a different guess at how to keep the fools who rode that vessel alive.

The youthful administrator who had ordered the initial scouting stepped forward. He smelled merit in the air.

He had been the one who signed off on the mad idea in the first place when others called it a waste. Now an entire team had returned breathing.

"Honored masters, you’ll want to inspect this hull."

He pointed toward the Karvi longship Radeon had used. His voice carried a young man’s swagger, as if he had carved the ship himself.

"This man took this very boat out bare of wards. I was a clerk that gave him the initial scouting."

Radeon let the man talk. He did not correct a single exaggeration. Truth only got in the way of a useful story.

At first the masters did not believe him. Suspicion narrowed their eyes as they circled the Karvi. Once they probed its structure, their doubt shifted to grudging wonder.

Even the array grandmaster frowned at the readings, surprised that such a frail craft had slipped from a nascent embryo predator. His slow nod turned speculation into decision and the Karvi design passed at once.

Radeon watched every twitch of their faces. When he saw the moment their greed outweighed their doubt he moved.

He drifted to the array master in charge of the Karvi, the same man who he had sent the errand boy to give the list to.

The man had tossed his letter aside earlier without a second glance.

Now he found himself walking beside the rogue who had designed the thing and survived the enemy’s grip.

That kind of proof was hard to ignore.

While the grandmaster and the commander argued over which men to send on this suicidal run, the two of them slipped toward the ship warehouse, right past the corner where Radeon had once stolen array materials for his own refinements.

This time he walked in through the front like a guest.

Alarm talismans hung around the warehouse entrance. Red ink gleamed in their carved seals with a watchful glow that promised a piercing shriek at the slightest touch.

They were so obvious any honest thief would turn away. Which was why Radeon had never bothered with these tents before.

Inside, shelves climbed high and deep. Metal beams of strange shape lay in careful rows. The pieces smelled of fresh forging and grand ambition. Their purpose was easy enough to read.

’Hundred-foot sword array. Built to punch through fortress wards. No one dumps this much metal and time just to crack a mountain shell for loose spirit stones. So what’s the real play?’

Radeon forced his mind back from that edge. Curiosity was a luxury for people who had nothing to steal.

He kept his gaze moving so it never lingered on anything too long. Instead he watched the array master.

Saw where the man’s eyes paused. Saw the tiny flinches when Radeon drifted a little too close to something important.

Through another man’s reaction he mapped value. That was safer than any probe.

’Need five of the best pieces here. Four I can fake with substitutes. I’ll push for three. If they squeeze me down to one, it still works.’

Radeon first laid his hand on a massive stone marble. The block had already been cut into thousands of small pieces. Insurance in case the main array failed.

The master opened his mouth to object. Then he remembered those bits were only spares and let the choice pass with a sigh.

Radeon moved faster once he smelled that small concession. Hoverstones to ease the weight. Plating jade to anchor control lines. Windstones to feed the propeller arrays.

Each selection was made with the same careless air as if he did not know their exact value.

At the back of the stockpile rested an aged spirit wood pillar. Its scent was rich and old. Grain so dense it caught the light like water.

He let his fingers hover near it for a long moment. The array master tensed. Reproach already burned in his eyes.

Radeon stepped away and picked spirit bamboo instead. Almost as good. Far easier to win.

’Push too hard and he drops me to scraps. Take second best and he thinks he’s outplayed me.’

He weighed the haul in his arms.

’This will make a decent flyer.’

He also needed to pick up Fay downstream. The thought sat in the back of his mind like a stone.

Radeon might be cynical and greedy but he had no taste for dangling people and cutting the rope just to hear the drop.

Near the exit a scatter of packs lay piled. Array master bags. Tough leather. Reinforced seams. He drifted toward them and pretended to notice them only now.

The array master finally found his tongue.

"These bags are for array masters. What do you need them for."

Radeon answered by shrugging. He made sure the motion was loose and careless. Stones slipped from his arms. Windstones and hoverstones clattered on the floor one by one. Every drop tugged at the man’s heart.

The master flustered yet stubbornly tried to shoo him away.

"Do you not have a bag of your own, sky sailor."

"Eighty years at sky, I’ve mostly stuffed my gear down my breeches. Does that not count as a bag to you, master?"

That image was crude enough to shut the man up. With hands that now shook for a different reason he gestured for Radeon to pick one.

Bags made of beast scale gleamed with each turn. Radeon opened one and felt the quiet hum of stored qi under his fingers. It was a mobile shield that could drink blows as well as carry rocks.

Another was cut from pale veined leather. Less sturdy yet light and compact. Its inner lining was etched with tiny script meant for talismans and brushes.

When he nudged it with a thread of will the carvings shifted. The bag wanted to flip through charms and produce whatever the hand intended.

’Quickdraw bag. Someone planned ahead.’

Both choices were tempting. If he were honest he wanted both. One for himself. One for Fay once she learned a little spell craft. Reality set the price. He got one bag.

Then a thought slid in.

’Once it starts, the field will be carpeted with scale bags. Men like these never die empty-handed. No point paying for what I can pull off a corpse.’

As if he had only just now made up his mind he took the smaller quickdraw bag. His current load was light aside from the bamboo. He could chop that down and lash it to the pack.

The array master stared at the choice, baffled. If Radeon were truly a sky sailor he should have grabbed the tough scaled pack for survival. The man did not say it out loud. Better to let the strange old sailor carry his own doom.

By the time a gentleman could finish a hurried cup of tea the shipwrights had already assembled the new vessel. Hardened men with scarred faces lined up nearby.

Their presence pressed on the air, stronger than any gilded core cultivator Radeon had ever met.

The six man team studied the sky sailor skin draped over his shoulders. He saw their judgement in their eyes.

They weighed him and decided he was wily enough and old enough to pull his weight.

Radeon had not expected such sharp attention from camp fodder. That alone told him these were not ordinary cultivators.

The commander stepped forward and gave the introductions.

"These six are outlier elders of the Skyflight Court, hard men the lot of them. Only pity is the heavens never quite let them step into the next realm." 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The men approached with heavy strides. Their harsh faces cracked into something close to respect. Stories of his escape had moved faster than any order.

"Old sailor, we’ll fly in your wake. We’ll run that odd-even pattern the mercenaries laid out."

Radeon let the smile stay hidden in his eyes. Outward he was the weary guide. Inward he counted parts, bags, favors owed and stories believed.

He had wrung this camp almost dry. Now it was time to see what more the other camp could offer.