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[Swordstar]

The signal went off and Tomik launched into the air. As he and his wyvern climbed into the sky, he grabbed the first smoke bomb, gave it a quick inspection, and then set it off, throwing it into the air as he did. A cloud of smoke exploded around him and he grinned. Now this he could do.

[Solymr]

On the ground, the besiegers were ambushed by the mages while looking at the smoke clouds up in the air. The mages forced most of them to retreat to their camps, but some stood and fought, threating the mages as well as the wyverns when a squad of archers started aiming at the sky.

[Powder Miner]

Senija looked down, and keen as her eyes were spotted the archers -- with a little yelp of surprise, she pulled out a smoke bomb, set off the fuse, and tossed it as hard as she could at the archers -- in fact, from that point on, she made a general point of trying to blind any archers in sight, preferring very much to throw smoke bombs at the ground than to detonate them in the air.

[Solymr]

The archers were taken by surprise by the smoke, retreating as they were unable to see anything. The remaining Ixionians were also affected by the smoke, and the mages they were fighting back against took the chance to go back into the shadows.

But by now the ship was fully visible to the enemy, and it hadn't attained enough speed so as to not be a flying sitting duck against the siege weapon the Ixionians were preparing to use against it.

[Sirus]

: "I don't suppose this flying raft has armor or anything...does it? If not, it's been nice knowing all of you."

[Swordstar]

Tomik growled under his breath slightly and directed his wyvern up to hover as best she could near the ship. Pulling several smoke bombs out of the pouch, he set as many off at once as he could and threw them in different directions around the ship. Once they were launched, he moved down and around the ship, setting off more as he did to try and mask the exact location of the ship as best he could.

[Solymr]

Meanwhile down below a commander was giving orders and directions to the troopers managing the catapult, until the smoke around the ship was set off and the commander ordered them to fire the weapon.

The boulder flew into the smoke cloud and reemerged a moment later to return to its mother mountain, while the ship flew out of the cloud and started gaining speed away from the city.

Nikolai returned to the deck and started signaling towards the twins.

: The course is set! You can come back now!

: Isn't that nice, we get a farewell show and all. Mason leaned against the railing and watched the smoke clouds and the chaos at the city gates.

[Powder Miner]

Senija lowered her lance -- she'd been planning to try to scare the catapult away from firing, but since it'd simply missed they were fine -- and turned around, gripping Ranzen's reins as the had the wyvern speed back towards the ship -- albeit heading around the giant smoke cloud, rather than through it, not wishing to go through the lowered visibility even if it made for a slightly inefficient course.

[Swordstar]

Tomik pulled out the last few bombs he had and set them off as he flew away, doing his best to cover his and Senija's flight. Just because the main ship had gotten away didn't mean there wouldn't be a brave archer trying to take down a wyvern.

[SeriousConcentrate]

"Yeesh. That was worrisome."

[Sirus]

: "Next time I'll stay on the ground and just sneak past the invading army."

[Solymr]

As the airship flew further and further from Coriven, those on the ground resumed their normal lives while the mages returned and closed the gates behind them. But one kept staring at the sky even after the ship left his view.

: Good luck, sis...

~~~~Chapter 8: Desperate Measures~~~~

It took the rest of the day and most of the next before the capital, Veleria, appeared at the horizon. The airship had been taking the scenic route, avoiding the active battlefields as best as Nikolai could, and now the capital was visible, with one building standing out between the rest.

The Great Cathedral of Veleria had been in view for only a few minutes before Nikolai announced the arrival.

: We're approaching the capital! Lady Anne-Laude, is there a place to land in the city?

: I'm afraid not, but don't worry. We can land outside and the guards will take good care of it.

: I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that but the message takes priority. Get ready everyone!

[Sirus]

Harlan stood near the bow of the ship, staring at the city ahead of them.

: "Someone mind going over what the plan is one more time?"

[SeriousConcentrate]

Lilly also wanted to hear that, so she settled back against the railing and waited to hear it.

[Twinwolf]

Catherine nodded. She needed a refresher too, just to be sure she knew what was going on.