Upon the Flying Ship: Rewritten Records of the Illiterate Author

Chapter 6

Night. The DSS drifted through the stars, slowly moving eastward. A cool breeze blew over the deck, making the guards stand up straighter, rubbing sleep out of their eyes. A lone dragon-bird quietly squawked and flew by, feathers trailing behind. A couple clouds decided to begin to form, but the hull of the ship put an end to their attempts.

Liblie woke up to a knife. Cold, sharp metal glinted in the moonlight, wavering above her neck. She could see a few fingers and part of the palm, but the rest of the midnight murderer was hidden somehow.

"Oh. You're awake."

"I'm awake." Liblie nodded, realizing that he had managed to tie her wrists together with iron, and her ankles, and wow, her neck, and she was pretty sure there was a circlet tangled in her hair.

"Well then. Come with me." It was painfully obvious that the guy was trying to sound all tough and gruff, but Liblie wasn't going to call him out. Maybe he would kill her faster that way, but embarrassing an assassin? That would be pretty mean.

"Dragon or heat-bubble-basket or other technology?"

"Close. Dragon-bird."

"You managed to catch one? And ride it?" This guy was amazing!

"Shhh. Someone will hear us." And then he looked at her, furrowing his brow. During the walk he had become more visible, even though the amount of light had only decreased. "Wait, why are you so quiet, actually? I'd've been screaming very loudly in hope that someone would save me from your inevitable fate."

"Ooh, pretty. Inevitable fate. What is it, actually? I'd like to know."

"We're going to torture and kill you." The words were mechanical, as he had been repeating them in his head for a while. Probably practicing during the flight. "Wait, sorry, let me repeat that. Forget it, would you?"

Liblie blinked. "Okay."

"We're going to TORTURE and KILL you!" He pulled out a sword. Then a knife.

"Ooh, really? I've been waiting for a long time for someone to kill me!"

"You're- you've WHAT?!"

"Don't mind me. Anyway, if you're going to kill me-"

"And torture!"

"Kill me and torture me-"

"Not in that order!"

"Kill me and torture me, not in that order, I'll just gotta know your name!"

"First, I won't be the one torturing and killing you, and second, it's Zydexo."

"Wow, your parents managed to fit a heck ton amount of end-of-the-alphabet letters into your name. Maybe 'Zywuxov' would've worked better?"

And then a DeSSer walked by. Probably Cactus. "Liberty, darling! Where you off to at this hour?"

The blood Mage pointed at Zydexo. "Following this lovely young man to my apparent death." By that moment, he had paled out of existence. "Oh, now he's invisible."

Cactus laughed. "You have such an odd sense of humor, darling, but everyone's peculiar in their own way."

"Don't worry, I'll be out of your hair soon." Liblie smiled as Cactus wandered onwards.

"So they call you Liberty."

"It's their idea of a joke," Liblie complained. "I'm the only one with a normal sense of humor here, and by doing your job, you're robbing everybody else of a NORMAL sense of humor..."

"Well, Lady Liberty, then, after you." Zydexo bowed stiffly and opened the stair-doors.

"Why, not a lady." she murmured, sweeping past the assassin as gracefully as the chains on her ankles would allow. "I may be a ruler, but in no way a lady."