Sky Riders

The Hunting Grounds

As the years had gone by, Artemis and Anna had stayed together on the small red airship, the Jenny Haniver. They had joined the Anti-Traction Legue, earning names for themselves as ruthless criminals who destroyed every city they landed on by the Tractionists, and skilled aviatrices from the Legue. Wanted in most of the larger cities, Anna and Artemis could be considered professional criminals. With large prices on their heads, they were always living on the edge. Arkangel was offering ten thousand Quirkes, Panzerstadt-Bayreuth twice that, and some cities even five times that. Anna liked to keep track of what they were worth, something's complaining that the cities should offer more for them. After all, they were 'infamous murderers!'

They had become so popular, they had nicknes given to them. Anna was Feng Hua, the Wind Flower. Artemis was Munran'Na, the Moon Runner. Becoming skilled warriors, they had become sisters-in-arms, fighting even better when together.

Now, flying high above the giant Huning Ground, Artemis watched as the occasional town or city scuttled or lumbered or rolled by, the setting sun illuminating the shilouette of each city than ran past. Once, there had been so many more small cities for trading and staying there for a few days to fix or refuel the ship when they were too far away from Airhaven, the floating city. 

Then, something caught Artemis's eye. Was that London lumbering across the Hunting Grounds? Wherever London has been hiding for the past few years, it definitely wasn't t hiding anymore.

"Oi, Anna! Look, it's London!" Artemis half-shouted across the narrow wooden gondola that had been fixed up to much better shape than the first time she was on it.

"Yeah! I could go turn you in right now and get fifty thousand!"

"You wouldn't," Artemis countered. "You enjoy my company too much."

"You think so highly of yourself," Anna laughed, her red-stained smile illuminating the narrow gondola.  Their friendly banter was a normal occurrence, volleying back and forth. The banter kept the boredom away when they were on long journeys from city to city, town to town. 

"But I wonder what its doing out here," Artemis asked.

"Nah, I don't know anymore than you do. But hey, that's one of the cities where we're worth the most!" Anna chuckled.

She loved to keep track of the bounties different cities had put on their heads. Why she did that, Artemis had no idea, but she wasn't one to judge hobbies. Anyway, it was really funny when Anna thought their bounty wasn't high enough in a city. Artemis started to braid her blue dyed hair over her shoulder as she watched the sun set out the window, casting long shadows over the expansive Hunting Grounds. 

"Do you think maybe we should go see what London is doing? I mean, they must have come out here for a reason, right?" Artemis asked, worriedly. She was not one to let mysteries grow or miss out on any facts. "You know, just swoop by."

"Actually, yeah. London being out here is actually really suspicious. Why do you have to make such a good point?" Anna replied, the silver-dyed streaks in her hair gleaming in the fading sunlight. She gripped the controls and steered east toward the huge Predator City. Artemis pulled out a telescope, looking at the city through the lens. Just as it focused, she saw two bodies falling out from behind the city.

"ANNA!" Artemis gasped. "PEOPLE JUST FELL! OFF OF LONDON!" 

Anna turned autopilot on and swiveled around the old chair that had never been replaced and stood up, taking the telescope from Artemis's hands.

"Where? Where are they?"

"They fell right behind it, probably a little ways behind London now. Half a mile, maybe?"

"Which tier did they fall from? Ground is soft so if it's not the top three they should probably be alive..."

"PROBABLY?"

"Well yeah. Like a seventy five percent change they're still alive."

"Well if there's a seventy five percent change they're alive there's a twenty five percent chance of them being VERY VERY DEAD!"

Anna sighed. "I supose you want to go look?"

"Well yeah," Artemis replied. "If they fell off London, it was probably for a reason! They might be fellow Anti-Tractionists!"

"Why, Artemis, do you have to have such a good point?"

With that, their argument, if it could be called that, was over. Artemis sat in the pilot seat and turned northward to the spot where the two bodies fell out of the Traction City.

Flying closer the the ground, looking in the tracks London left behind, Artemis said, "Anna, I'm going to get out and look for them. You take the controls. I'll get a gun and my sword, so don't worry." With that, she landed the Jenny on a relatively smooth patch of land and jumped out.

The mud of the ruined earth squished under Artemis's boots as she walked along the trench that London's treads has made, Artemis called out.

"If you are the people that fell out of London, I WANT TO TALK TO YOU. LOOK, I'M PUTTING MY WEAPONS DOWN! SEE? I AM UNARMED!" 

A second or two after she laid her gun and sword on the ground, she heard the mud squelching behind her. Turning, she saw a girl with a knife and a red cloth covering her face.  Lunging at her, blade raised high on the air, the girl brought down her blade as if meaning to stab Artemis. 

Raising her hands and grabbing the girl right out of the air, Artemis turned the girl's blade at her own neck.

"Hello, nice to meet you. Please don't stab me, bleeding is bad for my health," Artemis smirked. "Okay, lets start over. Hi, my name is Artemis, who are you?"

The girl tried to squirm away. "TOM!" She shouted. Kicking Artemis's gun to a boy, she snarled. "Let me go."

"Well, my friend and I found it interesting that both of you fell out of London together," Artemis said, acknowledging the boy who was holding the gun as if he had never held one before. He was wearing a Londoner's clothing, with a Historian's badge on his chest. 

"So, Tom, since your girlfriend won't tell me what happened, you can!" Letting the girl go from Artemis's chokehold, Artemis held out her hand. "Gun please." Looking terrified, the boy gave it to her. "She-She isn't my girlfriend," he said, looking slightly embarrassed. 

"Alright then. Well, if y'all are going somewhere, we can take you wherever you need to be. Just come on my ship." Artemis told them.

"No, we won't go anywhere with you. Right, Tom?" The girl said, with venom in her voice.

"But Hester, they have a ship! Should we just walk all the way back to London?" 

Ah, so the girl's name was Hester! Wait, Hester? Anna and Artemis had been told to look for her!

"Hold on, hold on. So your name is Hester? Hester Shaw?" Artemis asked her.

"Yeah, so what?" 

"We knew your mother. We've been looking for you, Hester Shaw."

With that, the Jenny Haniver got two more passengers.