"You haven't said anything this whole trip," Leiliel said to him, her hands on his shoulders. "Matter of fact, I can't recall you saying more than ten words in the two weeks since we last saw Darken."

Sachiel felt her hand on his shoulder, felt her fingers running through his light blue hair. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry. I just . . .I guess I'm a little nervous."

"Nervous?" Leiliel said, beginning to rub his shoulders. "Why? We've known we had to do this for a month now. We've broken every other rule before now--breaking into the Royal Crypt, stealing the box," she gestured to the small lacquered box that sat on the table in front of them. It was solid black. The sole mark on its smooth surface was a red ideogram, one that every member of the Royal Family knew well.

"I know," Sachiel said. "Worse than that, Nycheladra has become a prison." He stood up and went to the window. Below them, clouds rolled. The skies over Deianyra were a soft, pale blue, and the kind of day not meant to be spent cloistered in some Skyship. For not the first time Sachiel wished his friend Darken were there. He always had known what to do, always knew the answers. That, and he was so much better at this sort of thing . . .

"How long now?" Sachiel asked?

Leiliel looked at the timepiece in the left corner of the chamber. "It's nearly that time," She walked to a nearby porthole and looked down. "And we're over the mountains. It should happen any time."

High above them, hidden in higher strata of clouds, the Ghost Lion waited for its prey. It's captain stood at the bow of the ship, telescope in hand, watching the two ships below him. If his heart could have skipped a beat in anticipation, it would have. But he had no heart, he was a machine.

Pirate Lion had been the captain of the Ghost Lion for years, and had, in that time, organized the largest clan of techno-pirates in the Seven Spheres. They went where they pleased, beholden to no one. They had the respect of nearly every kingdom in the Spheres.

It was a reputation he was proudest of. And now, a Royal Ship of the Angels had come to Deianyra, and presented itself a target to him. It wasn't a military skyship either, it was a royal yacht. The gall of them, he thought. Well, he would teach them a harsh lesson about this breach of respect.

"Sir, there's another ship escorting the Sun Runner," Cannon Saber, his first officer said. They were both robotic, both rogue emissaries from the Machine Sphere, but somehow they had earned the trust of the humans under their command.

"What kind of ship?" Lion asked, training his scope to find the other ship.

"It's the Sorceress," Cannon replied. "One of the Warlock ships. That's--"

"Lord Protector Miral's ship," Lion finished. If he could have smiles, he would. Miral, the new Captain of the Guard and Lord Protector, had made herself a reputation during the Lanicrus attack. Lion had often wished to fight against her. "This gets better and better. Well, Cannon, we were paid to meet these Angels in battle, and they've apparently come prepared. Let's welcome them properly."

They walked further back, to the helm of the ship. Lion found the going a bit difficult, due to his ruined left leg, which he had never been able to quite repair to his satisfaction.

Lion took the wheel as Cannon manned the engine controls. "Full speed, Cannon," he said. "We'll come down on top of them."

Elita Miral sat in the command chair on the bridge of the Sorceress. What a heady race these last few months have been, she thought to herself. It had been two months since the funeral of King Matariel, less than that since Sandalphon had been appointed Regent. As a function of that, Sandalphon had appointed her Captain of the Guard, and she was the youngest person to ever be appointed to the title, and the first woman. And top all that off, Sandalphon had given her the Sorceress, as a gift for enduring the attacks by Lanicrus.

However, days like this she found interminable. One of her duties as Lord Protector was to supervise Prince Sachiel, should he wish to leave the Royal Palace. Sachiel had insisted he take the Royal Yacht, the Sun Runner, to Deianyra.

Elita had never much liked Sachiel, she found him to be entirely too willful and sullen, hardly fit to be considered a prince of the realm. But it wasn't up to her to question.

She had always been a solider, even since she had first worse the uniform of the Seraphim. Even though that uniform was now a formal red as opposed to the lieutenant's uniform she had worn for so long, that commitment had not changed.

"Status report," she asked, the boredom in her voice all too evident.

"Everything is normal," one of the blue-garbed Seraphim said from his station. "The Sun Runner reports no problems."

Elita thanked him, and went back to her meditations, praying for something--anything--to happen and relieve her boredom. She sighed and twisted a lock of her green hair around her finger.

"I can see them," Leiliel said. "It's time."

Sachiel got up and began to gather thing, taking special care to wrap the black box up in the bundle he was making. In the process of this, he looked up at her. For not the first time, he studied every trace of her features. Those pale blue eyes he had so loved to gaze into. The soft blonde hair that he had so loved to touch.

"Leiliel," he said. "I just want to say something. I love you. And I'm sorry for how things have been between us."

"You don't have to apologize," she said. "But why now?"

"Because I'm afraid," Sachiel said. "Darken risks his life all the time--but I've never seen him show any fear. "

Leiliel walked over to him and held him tightly. "Maybe you're just a different kind of brave."

"All right then," Lion said. "Everyone knows their role. Cannon, Chasla, and I will board the Sun Runner, the rest of you will stay here and provide covering fire. When you see the sails on the Sun Runner go down, move the Ghost Lion underneath the Sun Runner. All right?"

One of his Lieutenants took the helm. The rest readied themselves for the fight. Cannon loaded his giant hand pistol, full of powerful Exploder shells, capable of punching giant holes in walls. The gun was too heavy for any of the human to lift, but Cannon had no trouble.

Chasla buckled on her sword. The Motahari blade, from Ladon was capable of controlling the element of earth. While it had been more or less useless while they made their way through the skyways, it had proven invaluable in other times.

Lion charged up his own sword, the Lion Saber, a relic from his times as part of the Machine. At full charge, it could rend the bulkheads of a ship. They would need that to signal the Ghost Lion.

They could feel the steady thrum of the ship's engines as they cut through the clouds. Lion focused on the task before him, sword at the ready. The three of them crouched against the side of the ship, awaiting their chance.

"There's something out there?" Elita asked.

"Whatever it is, it's coming in fast," her lieutenant advised her. "There's a disturbance in the upper clouds--could be a ship, but whatever it is, it's coming in fast."

"All hands to battle stations, make weapons ready," she said. "Damn me for a fool, I should never have let Sachiel make a course through here! This is where the techno-pirates attack. How could I have been so stupid?"

She further chided herself silently for wishing something would happen. This wasn't what she had envisioned.

"Seraphim to the upper deck," she called. "Prepare for attack. Engines to maximum--put us between the Sun Runner and the disturbance."

"Aye, captain," her helmsman said. All around her, activity was commencing in earnest. Gun turrets were activated, their gunners turning the massive weapons, tracking their target. The brilliant green jewel at the bow of the Sorceress, it's primary weapon, began to glow with power.

"If these scruffy techno-pirates want a fight," Elita said. "We'll show them how."

"DAMN!" Sachiel said, turning the helm to avoid the swing of the Sorceress. "They must have figured it out--the Sorceress is trying to block them."

"Relax," Leiliel said, coming up from the lower decks. "It won't stop them. I know the techno-pirates--they have a counter to it. And Elita's a fool for turning her side to their ship."

"Why?' Sachiel said, tying the wheel.

"Better you see for yourself," Leiliel replied with a smile. "Trust me, it's quite spectacular."

Sachiel smiled at her. "Is everything ready?"

Leiliel nodded. "You know," he said, smiling just a bit. "There's a kind of exhilaration in doing this."

"I think you missed your calling, then." Leiliel said, laughing. "Maybe you should be a rogue, like Darken is."

Sachiel smiled. "Isn't that what we're doing?" Very slowly, he took a look around. "You know, when I was very young, my father took me aboard this ship for the first time. I thought it was the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen. It flew so gracefully--it was the only one of it's kind--there were no other skyships. He loved it--it was his way escape from the pressures of court. Now he's gone. And so will the ship. I'd like to think--wherever he is now--that he'll have it with him."

The Ghost Lion turned itself around, angling toward the side of the Sorceress. Before the Sorceress could maneuver, twin anchors from the bow of the Ghost Lion rocketed towards the sides of the ship, making a great tear in its side.

"NOW!" Lion waved to the helmsman. Underneath the decks they could hear the turbines whirring. Incalculable voltage surged along the metal cables to the anchors, to the Sorceress.

In the confusion, Chasla ran three lines from her speargun to the deck of the Sun Runner. They used the confusion to slide down the lines to the deck below, while the Ghost Lion provided covering fire from its guns. The weapons, though primitive, made the ship more than the equal of the Sorceress, which had been completely taken by surprise.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF--" Elita began, a little less confident now. Every machine that could have told her that had quit working. Some had even exploded in a shower of sparks.

"I'm sorry, my lady," her first office said over the panic and alarms. "They've used their shock anchors to disable out weapons. We're only now getting gunners to the manual weapons."

"The hell with that," Elita said. "Get our soldiers topside. Tell them to break the moorings, take a shot at the ship if they can, but get us free. The Prince must be protected."

"Yes, my Lady," the officer said, barking the appropriate orders to the guards arrayed along the bridge.

The ship lurched to the side. Elita grabbed at her chair to keep from falling to the floor. "That was out port engine. Those bastard pirates are stealing our power, not overloading our own."

"My Lady," one of the lookouts said urgently. "Three of the pirates have boarded the Sun Runner."

"Stop them," Elita said. "Send soldiers, get a gun trained on them--I don't care--but stop them."

Sachiel unbolted the door to the royal cabin. He could hear the sounds of fighting topside. They'd be here soon. And what had he done. The cannons on the Sun Runner stood idle--he had given orders not to fire a shot.

Leiliel stood next to him, holding his hand gently. Lady Phoenix, he thought to himself. I never thought I would be here, never thought my life would take this path. Goddess, tell me I am walking the right path.

Two things shattered his reverie. First, he heard the sound of the Ghost Lion moving underneath them. Their engines were disturbing the cushion that supported his ship, it began listing to the side.

The second was the door splintering open. Sachiel let go of Leiliel's hand and walked forward, unafraid of the being before him.

"Pirate Lion," he said. "I've been waiting for you."

"Why aren't we moving?" Elita demanded angrily. They had managed to sever the anchors that held them, but the damage had been done. They were as good as crippled, and now it looked as if the pirates were going to get away with the Royal Ship. They had already torn down its sails--it was a simple matter to tow it now.

"Our port engine is barely functional," her first officer said. "We're moving, but too slowly to make a difference."

"What's the enemy ship's position?"

"Directly underneath the Sun Runner," he said. Our guns are powerful enough to hit it, if we--"

"If we what?" Elita demanded. "Shoot through the Royal Ship and kill everyone on board? Are you mad?"

Before she could continue, a brilliant orange burst of flame erupted around them. Elita had to shield her eyes, but in doing so could no hold on when the force of the blast threw her to the floor.

"What was that?" She demanded, hauling herself up.

No one said anything.

"I ASKED YOU A QUESTION!" Elita demanded.

"It's the Sun Runner," her first officer said quietly. "It's . . .been destroyed."

Elita felt her throat close. There were no words for how she felt, only that once again, she had seen one of her rulers, twice now in a year, die horribly.

"If it were anyone else," Regent Sandalphon said, his lips twisted into a cold sneer. "I would have you killed before the public. As it is, I should demote you, strip you of your newly-won rank and title."

Elita stayed bowed in Sandalphon's chambers. She felt humiliated, true, but more from her pride than Sandalphon's words.

"A group of techno-pirates, Miral," Sandalphon said, spitting out each word. "And you allowed yourself to be humbled by them, made to look like a lancer in our infantries.

"I should destroy your life," Sandalphon said. "But now is not the time. You have dashed my hopes for you, Miral. It will take some time to earn my forgiveness. I think it is best that you be elsewhere while I try to forget your incompetence. Perhaps upon your return you will earn my forgiveness.

"We are negotiating with the other Spheres," he said, calmer now. "For free passage, mutual defense. You will take the Sorceress and oversee the negotiations. Do not return until called for. That is all. Go."

Elita made her way out quickly, surprised he had not exacted a heavier price for her failure. She wasn't about to complain though--exile was actually very light punishment, compared to what she was doing to herself.

As the chamber doors closed, Sandalphon watched the path Elita had taken and flung an empty goblet at the doors. It clattered and fell to the smooth marble floor.

"Trouble," a dark-robed figure said, emerging from the shadows that it had been hiding in.
"Of a sort," Sandalphon said, reclining in his chair. "Sachiel is dead."

"I heard that," the figure said, a feminine lilt to her voice. The spare light in the room caught a sliver of her face, revealing her to be female. "But weren't you going to eliminate him anyway?"

"Yes," Sandalphon admitted. "But not so soon! My people have barely had time to adjust to his father's death, now to mourn his. The timing couldn't be worse."

"Oh, I don't think so, Sandalphon," she replied. "This actually may be opportunity disguised."

"Stop talking in circles Kirone," Sandalphon. "If you have something to say, I want to hear it."

"If we're going to attempt to extend our influence to the other Spheres," Kirone began. "Perhaps we need a credible threat to . . .motivate those we would ally with?"

Sandalphon looked at her. His features softened from the severity of mere seconds ago into a smile. "It could work . . .It could actually work. But only if this keeps up."

"Then if there isn't a threat," Kirone said. "If this is just an isolated incident, we need to create the illusion of a threat. You know we can do it, Sandalphon."

"I know," he said. "But there are still obstacles. For our . .illusion, as you so picturesquely put it, to succeed, no one must be able to refute our evidence."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Kirone said.

"Darken Blackangel," Sandalphon said. "He has favor with the peoples of all spheres, even my own. His word carries much weight."

"It doesn't have to," Kirone said. "Not if we can make his words a lie, or better yet, show him to be the threat."

"Your plan has potential, Kirone," he said. "We'll discredit Darken . . . then we'll eliminate him."