Caroline was flushed and breathing heavily. She pushed back hair that Aubrey thought was wonderfully wild and free. ‘Let’s not do that again soon, shall we?’ she said huskily.
Aubrey had to agree. The Gallian landscape was a pretty thing, but not when it was screaming toward them as it had been just a few minutes ago.
‘And no more upside down, please,’ Sophie added in a small voice.
‘We can do without that twisty rolling, too,’ George added. ‘Quite lost my appetite there for a while.’
‘I’ll do my best in the future,’ Caroline said, ‘but I thought both manoeuvres were preferable to breaking up and being strewn across farmland.’
George pushed his head forward between Aubrey and Caroline. ‘I say, is that the coast?’
‘And I’m sure that wall of cloud ahead is actually what we’re after,’ Aubrey said. ‘Are we still gaining?’
Caroline craned her head to catch a glimpse of the countryside they were skimming over. ‘I’d say so. Not as much as when your magic wind had us in its clutches, but we should pass the skyfleet within the hour.’
‘Over the straits,’ Aubrey said carefully. ‘Since we’re doing so well, what do you all say to a slight detour?’
I N THE DYING LIGHT, D R T REMAINE’S SKYFLEET WAS SPREAD across nearly a mile in a V-shaped formation, the most gargantuan of the warships in the vanguard. It had slowed as it left Gallia behind and this had allowed the ornithopter to close on it more quickly than anticipated.
Realising this, Caroline sent the aircraft climbing, gaining altitude until the line of cloud-formed ships was stretched far beneath them, flanked by the wall of storm clouds. She had to wrestle for a moment with the starboard wing, which had developed an annoying grinding, but from this position, with the help of binoculars Sophie produced from her rucksack, Aubrey was able to study Dr Tremaine’s fleet.
This was worth the time, he told himself. Gathering information about the disposition of the skyfleet might be vital in deciding how best to combat it. The Directorate, the military, needed as much intelligence as it could get.
The flagship would have been the largest battleship in the world, if it had been on the sea. Aubrey judged it to be at least twice as long as the Impervious, the pride of the Albion fleet. The three turrets of twin mounted guns, fore and aft, were unheard of. Despite the fact that the ship was made of cloudstuff magically wrought to mimic the steel and iron of real battleships, it was a frightening beast. It looked as if it could destroy a city by itself.
It was accompanied by more than a dozen lesser battleships and a score of destroyers, cruisers and attendant craft. It was a terrifying fleet, correct in every detail apart from one.
‘Not many crewmen,’ George muttered.
Aubrey scanned the walkways and decks of all the ships but saw no-one. The gun turrets were unmanned, the catwalks were empty, the stairs were abandoned. In ships of this size, fully underway, Aubrey would have expected to see dozens of crewmen at work on the hundreds of tasks required to keep a ship steaming along happily.
Another puzzle.
He motioned Caroline to halt their advance.
Aubrey had thought, while crawling, exposed, through no-man’s-land, that there had to be a Better Way. When being seen was such a life-threatening handicap, a method of avoiding notice was greatly to be desired. He knew that the Directorate, under Commander Craddock’s guidance, was experimenting with approaches to disguise troops, military hardware, and even buildings, but nothing had been forthcoming.
With Sophie’s talent in the area of illusion and seeming, Aubrey wondered if they might be able to approach the stormfleet and not immediately be blown out of the sky.
He looked over his shoulder. ‘Sophie, how much work have you done with the Law of Familiarity?’
Sophie shrugged. ‘Most disguising spells use it. When Caroline and I entered Dr Tremaine’s factory in Stalsfrieden, the spell I used made the guards think that we belonged there.’
‘Exactly. But have you ever used it to disguise something that wasn’t human?’
‘An animal?’
‘What about something non-living, like a machine?’
‘Ah, you want to disguise this ornithopter!’
‘I say.’ George leaned forward. ‘Is that a good idea? I mean, shouldn’t we get to Trinovant as fast as we can?’
‘We won’t tarry long, but anything we can find out about these ships will help in determining a strategy against them.’ He rubbed the bridge of his nose. ‘I want to get nearer to Dr Tremaine’s flagship. I don’t imagine he’ll allow an Albion aircraft to come alongside, not unless he has changed considerably.’
Caroline didn’t move her head. ‘Sophie, I give you per mission to poke Aubrey with something sharp if he starts getting pompous.’
Sophie studied Aubrey, who was still considering the implications of Caroline’s thinking she could give someone permission to do something to him. ‘I think he has already started,’ she said.
‘That’s his last chance, then. Poke him if he continues.’
‘Familiarity,’ Aubrey said hurriedly. ‘If someone looks in this direction, they need to imagine that they’re seeing something that belongs.’
‘Like a cloud, old man?’ George offered.
‘That would be useful if we remain at a distance, but I’d like to get closer than that.’
‘A bird,’ Sophie said suddenly. ‘If someone looks across and thinks that we are a bird, it might seem unusual, but not threatening, no?’
‘Perfect,’ Aubrey said, ‘and I think I might have something that can help here. Do you know anything about the Law of Similarity?’
Sophie shook her head.
‘The Law of Similarity states that an object can be encouraged to assume the characteristics of something it resembles.’
George nodded wisely. ‘That’s the one you used to turn our ornithopter into a bird after we rescued Major Saltin.’ He cocked his head at Sophie. ‘He saved our life that way.’
‘I’m thinking,’ Aubrey said, doing his best to retain control of the discussion, ‘that I can blend some elements from a Similarity spell into a Familiarity spell of your devising. Since this ornithopter is already bird-like, it should increase the effectiveness of your spell.’
Sophie sparkled. ‘That is brilliant, Aubrey, and not pompous at all!’
‘Now, get to work,’ Caroline said with tilt of her head. ‘This circling is stupefyingly boring.’
Sophie’s increasing ability and facility with spells of seeming and appearance had been on Aubrey’s mind. Her spellcasting diffidence came from lack of practice, he’d decided, and some wayward teaching when she was younger. In discussions about her training, he’d had the impression of a series of harsh, disciplinarian magic instructors who insisted on rote learning. Aubrey understood her rejection of magic, if this was the case. He would have struggled under such a regime, despite his love of magical learning. Sophie was sunny, clever, humorous, but she wasn’t infinitely patient. Like Caroline, she wouldn’t suffer fools gladly.
With a jolt, he straightened. Then what on earth are Caroline and she doing with George and me?
‘Aubrey?’ Sophie said. ‘Are you all right?’
‘Me? I’m perfectly well, thanks. Just thinking. And you?’
‘I’ve nearly finished the spell. Will you look at it, please?’
Sophie’s spell making was clean and precise. She’d left her workings behind before she’d written out her final version, which was useful as he could follow the thinking that lay behind what she’d crossed out and changed along the way.
He couldn’t fault her logic. Even though he may have taken a different approach with the parameters for dimensionality, he accepted that her use of spatial and relative coordinates was an inspired method of ensuring that they remained disguised at all times.
He also approved of her use of Achaean. The ancient classical language was well known and relatively straightforward to work with. For a rusty spell caster, it was a good choice.
He looked up to find her gazing at him anxiously. ‘Is it sound?’
‘Sophie, it’s a marvel. I couldn’t have done it.’
‘Now you’re making fun of me.’
He shook his head. ‘I recognise good spellwork when I see it.’
Sophie coloured and took the notebook he gave her. ‘What do we do now?’
‘You cast the spell.’
‘When?’
‘After I’ve merged it with the spell to increase the birdiness of the final result. Then we should be ready.’