>How's Miyuki doing?
>Look around in the event anyone falls. Nobody goes overboard if we can help it.
>Do those rocks set off our treasure sense? Or anything else on that island?
>Are those ships close enough for our sense to react?
>She is clinging onto the starboard rail with both arms. You can't see her face, but you imagine her expression isn't much different than those of the other crew you can see; a sort of numb horror kept in check by gritted teeth.
>Everyone else seems to be holding on similarly. If last night's experience means anything, they're a lot more used to remaining upright in rough skies than you are. But you keep an eye out for anyone about to get thrown off, just the same.
>Nothing brushes strongly against you and you don't really have the focus to pay closer attention right now. You think it's a perfectly normal and mundane rock... which is above you. That's really, really not where it's supposed to be.
>Even the closer vessel is still too far away to pick up anything passively, unless that something were overpowering.
>Mutter, "I hope they steer into a rock face."
>You wish an ill fate upon your pursuers. Unfortunately, as you glance in their direction, you find that they seem to be having an earlier time staying stable than you are, though at least you can still see them wobbling a little. They're making a bee-line for the Maiden and closing the distance quickly.
>"Are they crazy?!" someone asks. The unspoken question is whether that would make two of you.
>The Blue Maiden continues to bob and rock precipitously as Murasa fights for the narrow band of sky that separates one death from another. The opposite edge of the island draws mercifully near; you don't know if you would have believed this maneuver possible just a few moments earlier. And what's more, you're going to make it out with a comfortable lead on the pursuing vessel, despite its tenacity. The sun peers through a gap in the crags descending from the island's lip. Just a few more seconds....
>Then the shaft of light is abruptly eclipsed by the sleek profile of a hull pulling across your exit route.
>"Ship dead ahead!" Miyuki cries. She is answered by an alarmed shout from the other end of the deck.
>"It's the Skyfang!"
>Before you even have time to process this, there is a loud burst of air from the new vessel and a large metal bolt streaks through the air towards the Maiden, trailed by the clattering sound of metal on metal as the chain connecting it to its source unfurls. Almost immediately, Murasa turns to deny the Maiden's profile to its attacker and pulls sharply upward. A second grappling harpoon is fired before the first has even closed half the distance between the two ships.
>You feel a abrupt thrust from beneath you as the sudden course correction puts you afoul of the deadly turbulence. The aft of the ship swings wide and you find yourself swerving unevenly away from the island's edge. The first grapple passes harmlessly beneath you, but that seems almost irrelevant as your start careening through the air. Presumably Murasa is fighting for control of her ship, but it becomes increasingly hard to separate which course corrections are her doing, and which are thrust upon her by the skies.
>With alarm, you notice the ship swerving towards a prominent crag, jutting down a hundred feet or so from the surrounding underside.
