His Cure

Icarus and Friends

I awoke to the sound of chatter coming from outside my tent. It must have been late in the day but Miss Grimshaw had already said that it was okay for me to lay in today so I rolled over and tried to get a few more minutes of rest.
I didn't manage to sleep but it was nice to lay in for once. I stretched as I sat up in my tent and took a minute to fully wake up.
After getting dressed and sorting out the birds nest that was my hair, I exited my tent. I didn't have much to do today other than talk with Arthur about how we were going to free John, but with Arthur no where in sight, I decided to sit at the table and chat with Abigail.
"I'll talk to Arthur about it the second he gets back to camp." I promised her as she began talking about how John was still in prison. "Please, get him out of there..." "We will. I promise you, nothings gonna happen to him. I won't let anything happen to him, don't worry." I tried to reassure her. She still seemed nervous but that was fair enough. I couldn't even begin to imagine the amount of stress I'd feel if the person that was arrested had been- "Elizabeth." My thoughts were interrupted by Tilly. "Morning Miss Tilly." I greeted as I turned to face her. "Morning, Sadie told me to give you this when you wake up." She replied as she pulled out a piece of paper and passed it to me. I thanked her before standing up and beginning to read it:
Liz,
Meet me at the small saloon in Saint Denis as soon as you can.
- Sadie
I quickly walked over to Wish and gave her a pat on the neck before mounting up and heading towards Saint Denis.
***
After I had hitched Wish outside of the Saloon I headed inside and was surprised to see Arthur already there. "Hey...?" I greeted as I walked over to him. "Hello." He replied as he coughed. "You alright?" I asked, slightly concerned, his coughing had been going on since he had gotten back from Guarma. "Fine." He responded. He probably just had a cold or something.
"Any problems coming in?" Sadie asked as she walked out of the back which made me jump slightly. "Nah." Arthur replied. "Guess they know now we ain't in the city." "Who? Mr Milton's friends?" "Yeah, they've had patrols out ever since you boys disappeared. Well, at least you're alive." Sadie explained. "For now, yeah." Arthur said which I wasn't really sure what to make of. 'For now'?
"What happened in um...?" Sadie began as she tried to remember where the boys were stranded. "Guarma?" Arthur questioned, finishing her sentence for her. "Yeah." "Nothing nice." Arthur replied bluntly. "What happened to Dutch? Cause he seems..." "I don't know. Seems as what began happening in Blackwater, began happening... years ago, maybe. A slow decline I guess." Arthur replied. It was good that Arthur had seen the change in Dutch's behaviour too. Maybe not good... but it was nice to know I wasn't the only one.
"Sadie, why are we here?" I asked bluntly after I remembered the note. "John." She replied. "You got a plan?" I asked, slightly taken aback. She already had a plan? Nice one Sadie. "Well, I figured before we do anything, we need to make sure John's even still at this prison." "And how do we do that?" I questioned as we began to walk out of the saloon and over to the horses. "We need to get up high enough to get a proper look at the place." Sadie explained but that just confused me further. "Ain't it on an island? Unless you're planning on learning how to fly, that ain't happening." I replied. "That's EXACTLY what we're going to do." "Sadie... I know it's been a rough month but I think you may have officially lost it." I joked. "I've found us a hot air balloon. "You ain't serious?" Arthur asked but all I could think was, what the hell is a 'hot air balloon'?
"Now the pilot, or whatever you call him, he thinks we're just in it for a lesson, a bit of a tour. He's quite the character. I think you'll like him."
I was just about to ask what exactly we were supposed to be flying in when I saw it. A huge balloon with a basket attached to the bottom... and that thing was supposed to fly...? Jesus.
"Mr Bullard?" Sadie called out as she dismounted her horse and we did the same. "Ah, Mrs Adler. It's good to see you. Good to see you." An elderly man wearing a funny hat jumped up out of the basket, startling me slightly. "These are my friends I told you about, Mr Morgan and Miss Cheban." Sadie introduced us. "Ah yes, Arturo Bullard, at your service. At your service." The man replied in slight theatrics which reminded me a little of Trelawny.
"Arthur Morgan." Arthur introduced himself. "Elizabeth." I added. "Nice to meet you Ma'am. Well, it's a nice fresh day for flying, sir. A day like today and Icarus would have made it across the sea. You ever flown before sir?" Mr Bullard asked as he led Arthur towards the balloon. "No." "Oh, it's quite a thing. Quite a thing. Now, put these on and hop in." Bullard said as he passed Arthur a funny looking pair of glasses. "Well ain't they coming?" Arthur asked as he gestured towards me and Sadie. "Oh, women can't fly sir! Are you insane?" Bullard replied. "They can't?" "Oh no sir, does terrible damage to them. To their... vapours. I thought everyone knew about that. Why, a delicate flower like Mrs Adler or Miss Cheban, heavens above! Or below." Bullard continued which I didn't believe for a second but it was quite funny watching him play it out and anyway, at least now I had a good excuse to not get in that thing. "I wouldn't exactly call Elizabeth a delicate flower... Where'd you find this guy?" Arthur asked Sadie as he stood inside the basket. "I told you you two would get on." Sadie replied.
"Are you sure about this?" Arthur questioned as Bullard began organising things around him. "Certain sir, quite certain. Miss, Mrs, let us away. Wish us luck! I've only crashed twice... now, pull on that rope... and hope for the best." Bullard said which made me chuckle as Arthur did not look impressed. "You boys have fun!" I called out sarcastically as the balloon began to float into the sky. "How did you get out of this?" Arthur asked as he and Mr Bullard got higher and we watched them become smaller and smaller as they gained altitude.
"What do we do?" I asked Sadie as we were left alone. "Remember how you promised to help me hunt down O'Driscolls?" She replied as she mounted back up. "I know where a few are hold up... if you're interested?" "Of course." I replied as I jumped onto Wish and we rode away.
***