For Forty Weeks the Sunbird Flew: An Airman's Tale

Chapter 18: Homeward Bound

"Captain Walker."

"Archer. A pleasure to see you, of course. I'd stand to greet you, but-"

"All things considered I'd really rather you didn't right now. It's a bloody miracle you didn't lose consciousness in the battle, let alone when we began to leave the valley behind us. I've come down to inform you that we're now deep into Gallic airspace; the rebel presence in the air is far weaker here than it is in the border regions between the kingdoms, so we should be safe. All of that aside, there's some talk of you receiving a knighthood from the Gauls. Greyfax has plagued them for years, but you removed that threat."

"Greyfax is dead?"

Archer nodded, grinning all the while.
"A merchant ship gave us the news as she passed. The Gallic Army apprehended the Wolfhound on the ground, and the government is intending to give the ship back to Albion as a gesture of goodwill. It seems our actions may have a ripple effect both at home and in Gaul."

Lawrence shook his head in disbelief.
"God, a knighthood. Never thought I'd see the day. 'Sir Walker'. Heh."

The man closed his eyes for a second, and for a moment Archer wondered if he'd fallen back asleep. He reopened them a second later however, looking less mirthful and more serious.

"No. We aren't stopping in Gaul. The rebels have no naval presence here, but there's plenty of dissidents and lowlives who'll try to take our prince if we stop. There'll be no honour for me in Gaul."

Archer shrugged.
"I'm fairly certain there will be. As soon as Talon is back home then you're almost certain to receive a knighthood from the royal family of Albion, but even if you didn't it wouldn't take long for stories of your actions to spread from Albion to Gaul. They'll know it was you and you'll be knighted by them as well. But that's all besides the point at the moment."

Lawrence nodded again.
"You said you heard this from a passing merchant ship? Were we in any danger?"

Archer shook his head.
"No danger, believe me. Our guns were tracking her the second she came into view until she passed into the distance once more. We weren't taking any chances."

The captain smiled.
"Good. That's good. Tell me, how go the repairs so far?"

Archer shrugged, puffing out an exhausted breath as he moved to sit at the side of Lawrence's bed in the mess, which had been converted into a makeshift hospital ever since Greyfax had gone down. Talon had been tending to the wounded and making damn good use of his skills, but he was only one man. Almost half of the crew had been wounded in some way, and around half of that consisted of major injuries. He'd been worked off his feet, as had the rest of the healthy, and the serving-boys and girls made up his nursing staff, but there was only so much they could do. Counting those killed in the battle, it seemed that the Sunbird would be returning to Albion with only around two-thirds of her crew alive.

As for Archer himself, well, he was doing everything he damn well could to patch the old bird up. He'd had help from deckhands and midshipmen when it came to the far less technical aspects of the job, such as patching up the various small bullet holes in the balloon or laying rigging out to make temporary walkways and passages where the actual walkways had been damaged or blown to scrap. The rest of it? Engine maintenance, air-pump checks, carronade repairs? All of that he'd needed to do himself. He was working overtime, but he could barely keep himself afloat amidst all the damage.

"I'm keeping our heads above water, but that's about all I can say. Still, whenever you're able to move around again I'm sure we can get it all done."