The Outskirts: The Sky Raiders (Jace x OC)

Part 16 *

Jace led us to a bench at the front of the skycraft. I sat down, Jace on my left, Cole on my right.
"Freaked out yet?" Jace said, nudging me.
"A little." I said. Cole nodded, agreeing with me.
"It's all you'll get. If you die, they'll either leave your body on the castle, and it'll drift into the Cloudwall, or you get buried in the air. A bottomless grave. There's never a body to bring back."
"You sir, are a ray of sunshine." I said to Jace.
He cracked a smile. "You get used to it. If you live long enough."
"Wow. You should be a motivational speaker." I said bluntly.
He smirked at me, that cute, lopsided smirk. I felt my face getting warm and turned my attention skyward.
The Domingo drifted upward and forward. It was pretty smooth for a flying ship.
As the Domingo coasted out into the glare of the rising sun, I shielded my eyes. The day was clear and cool, and they floated along serenely.
I got up and walked over to the railing and leaned against it. Once my hands were in the railing, I felt completely secure. Though, I felt even better when Jace and Cole came up and stood beside me.
Scanning from on side to another, I counted at least thirty castles. Some higher, some lower, some smaller, some larger, they all drifted towards the Cloudwall.
"So, what do we do?" Cole asked.
"They'll take you down in a life boat," Jace said.
"You'll climb down a ladder. Usually nothing happens until you set foot in castle grounds.
Sometimes that alerts the semblances and they come running. Other times nothing happens until you enter a building, or trigger a response in some other way. Sometimes the castle is empty, easy pickings. Your job is to scout and see it there's anything worth taking and to check for threats."
"If we get attacked?" I asked him.
"Run for it." Jace said. "Get back to a lifeboat.
They'll try to help, but they won't set down. Once you're safe, they'll assess whether the threat is worth challenging. The guys in the life boat will bring weapons. The main ship has two ballistae- see over there?"
I saw what looked like a giant crossbow on deck near the railing.
"They'll mount that up and get it ready before you go down." Jace said. "People will be covering you. We all want you to make it. And you have your jumping swords."
"Do you have your rope?" I asked.
"Did Mira tell you about that?" When we nodded, he produced a golden string, maybe a foot long. He noticed our perplexed stares. "It gets bigger."
"She said it can do all sorts of things." Cole said.
"It can." Jace replied. "It was a lucky find. But a jumping sword has its advantages too. I know some guys who did all fifty missions with a jumping sword, including some dicey ones."
"How often does it get dicey?" Cole asked.
"Roughly? I'd guess one in three missions amount to nothing. The rest are at least annoying. Maybe one in eight will give you nightmares. But that's not accurate. It depends on your luck."
"Define 'annoying'." I said.
"Am I a dictionary?" He said, cracking a smile.
"You know, you'll eventually have to run for it, but you know you'll probably make it." Jace said.
"That's just annoying?" Cole said.
"Yeah, at least compared to the worst days."
"What kind of stuff can happen?" Cole asked.
Jace ran a hand through his hair, somehow making him look even better. "I've done this a lot. You just have to be ready for anything. Once, a whole castle exploded, took out an entire skycraft. That was before my time, but no one made it back. Some guys at Skyport saw it through their telescopes. The semblances might want to talk. Some will seem friendly, or at least reasonable. Sometimes they'll treat you like a guest. They might act nice, then try to backstab you. There can be monsters, traps, bees, poisonous gas, archers, fireballs—you name it.
Anything."
"Piece of cake." I said.
Jace grinned.
Cole had totally zoned out. I hoped Jace didn't notice how tight I was squeezing the railing.
But he must have, because he leaned down slightly and whispered, "It'll be okay."
I looked up at him, silently thanking him. He gave a small smile.
"Where are we going?" Cole spoke up suddenly.
"Not even the captain knows yet." Jace said.
"The spotters are checking our prospects. Badly ruined castles are almost always empty and have nothing worth taking, so we try to stay away from those. We've had too many bad experiences with the dark and scary ones, so we stay away from those too. Same with any metal ones. It isn't an exact science. The just look for something promising—not to menacing, in decent shape, maybe with hints of wealth."
I zoned out for the rest of the conversation. I didn't exactly like the idea of knowing a million ways I could die. I was beyond nervous.
The Domingo circled the castle a couple times.
The captain and two other men approached us.
The captain explained that the men would be taking us down in a lifeboat.
"We'll get you there and bring you back." Eli said.
"Unless you don't," Jace added. I elbowed him, and he laughed.
"Try to have some faith in us." I said jokingly.
"I have faith in you. Cole?" he shrugged. "Not so much."
"Hey!" Cole said. Jace just shrugged again and we all laughed. It was almost like we weren't possibly about to die.
They led us to the rear of the skycraft where the lifeboat was. It had Okie Dokie written on the side in swirled black letters.
Me and Cole sat down on the middle bench. Jed in the back, Eli in the front.
"Remember to shout if you use your sword. It doesn't always work if you say 'away' too quietly." Jace said.
I saluted him and smiled. "Yes sir."
He rolled his eyes, but he was smiling. "Die bravely." Eli and Jed echoed him.
"It's unlucky to wish you good luck." Jed said at our confused expressions. "We use die bravely instead."
"Thanks." Cole said.
I looked back at Jace. He smirked and called,
"Knock 'em dead!"
I smiled to myself. This boy was going to be the death of me.
The lifeboat lurched forward, a lot faster and more rocky than the Domingo.
"We'll set you down in the middle of the yard. If a monster runs out, hop back on the ladder and we'll get you out of there. Otherwise we'll hover above and help spot for trouble." Jed said.
"Sounds good." Cole said through a sigh.
"You never know. There might be no threat." Eli said.
"Castles in good repair. And it's big." Jed said.
"I can see semblances." Eli said.
Along the edges of the courtyard, doors opened and closed as women bustled around wearing plain dresses and white shawls. Some were empty handed some with buckets and brooms.
None spoke or looked at one another.
"What do you think?" Jed asked Eli.
"Let's watch them." Eli said.
None of them even glanced at the lifeboat as they went about there business.
"What do you think?" Eli asked us.
"Creepy." I said. Cole nodded.
"I'll grant you that." Eli said. "Let's see if this shakes them." He tossed a rope ladder over the side. It unrolled, the end dangling a few feet of the ground.
The women took no notice.
"They don't act to alert." Eli said. "That might mena there's no predator."
"There still could be." Jed said, looking grim.
"Only one way to find out." Eli said. "You guys ready?"
"Ready as I'll ever be." I replied. Cole managed a flimsy nod as I started down the ladder.