Sky Riders

Shan Guo

Artemis groaned. Everything hurt, but mostly her forearm. She wondered why she was laying on the shared bed in the hull of the Jenny, her arm wrapped in bandages, and not up on the deck flying. That's when everything at Airhaven came back to her. The Stalker, the fight, her arm being sliced open again...

Anna must have heard her, because she jumped up from her seat in the corner to Artemis's side.

"I would smack you right now, but I'm not going to do that, because you're already hurt!" Anna exclamed, leaning onto the bed.

"And why, exactly, would I be getting smacked?" Artemis asked.

"Because you almost died! That's why, you reckless idiot! You heathen!"

"Hey, I wouldn't go that far! Reckless maybe, but I'm not an idiot!" Artemis pouted.

Anna threw out a string of curses so bad it could make a sailor blush, to which Artmeis replied, "Anna! Innocent children ears!" She said, nodding up to the deck where Tom and Hester were.

"Well, you're not allowed to do anything like this again, or I will personally follow you into the Sunless Country and smack you." Anna put one hand on either side of Artemis's face. "Do you understand?" Anna leaned closer to her, their foreheads almost touching. Artmeis wanted to close the gap, lean forward and kiss her, it would be so easy, all she had to do was sit up a tiny bit-

No. Artemis would not allow herself to think such treacherous thoughts. Artemis and Anna had been friends for a long time, so why ruin their friendship by admitting she had feeling for her? So many things could go wrong!

The moment- if it could be called that-was interrupted by Tom stepping down the ladder to announce, "I can see the wall! I never thought I would be able to see it without getting blown up, but here I am! There's so many dead cities, there must be loads of old tech still there!"

"Alright Tom, we get you're a huge history nerd!" Artemis laughed, pushing what had just happened to the very back of her mind where she would never think of it again. Anna slid off the bed onto her feet and started to help Artmeis up. 

"I really hate it when you do that, Art."

"Do what?"

"Be so much taller than me."

The girls laughed together, smiling.

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Anna had expertly docked the Jenny Haniver at the shipyard in Shan Guo, and the quartet was on their way to Artmeis and Anna's house in the static city. The chilly Shan Guonese air made everyone's cheeks red, and Artemis could see her breath cloud in front of her face. The wood and metal sheath of her claymore was freezing against Artemis's back, even through her layers of clothing. The wind blew her long blue hair in her face, and Artemis decided that she should have braided her hair earlier. She shivered and pulled her blue aviator's jacket tighter around her body.

Tom's eyes were wide with awe, and he took in every building, and he kept looking down to the ground as if he expected it to start moving. 

Hester kept her scarf pulled around her face and her head down, staring angrily at the ground. She stared at many things angrily, Artmeis noticed.

The quartet walked down the winding streets of the static city, frost crunching beneath their feet. White flakes started to fall, a small flurry but crescendoing  to a steady fall of cold snow.

Anna led the way up a small, snow covered hill to their home. It wasn't the biggest house, or the prettiest, but that was where Artemis and Anna lived when they weren't trading or fighting on the Jenny Haniver. 

It was a nice, one-story wood paneled house, that was realatively old compared to the newer houses surrounding it.

Artemis fumbled for the keys with her numb fingers, finally finding the correct one and turning it in the lock. The hinges squealed in the cold as the heavy door opened to reveal a dark foyer. A dark fireplace sat at the end of the hallway, and doors were spaced evenly on each side of the house. The foyer led to the right to reveal a sitting room and a kitchen. Despite being colder than outside, it felt... cozy.

Hester has stopped staring angrily at the ground to take in her surroundings. Artemis saw her glance around in awe, as she had probably never been in this nice of a house before. 

Anna crouched in front of the hearth, attempting to get a fire going to warm up the house. Artemis directed Tom and Hester to their rooms.

"Tom, you are first door on the left. Hester, second door on the right. Anna is second on the left and I'm forst on the right. Feel free to go explore the forty if you want, just remember where the house is. Actually, it's getting kind of late, so hold that thought for tomorrow. I'll make dinner."

It sounded like the beginning of a joke, with a London Gent, an assassin, and two criminals sitting down at a dinner table, but that was exactly what happened that night.

A/N I'm sorry this one was shorter than other chapters, but I had a huge history project that I had to work on so I couldn't write as much as I wanted to. But, to quote Daniel Radcliffe, I tried, and therefore no one should criticize me! Anyway, I was kind of rushed, so nothing really happened in the chapter... 😬