Chapter 116: First Flight Part 2

Captain Henrichs had once spent an afternoon trying to teach Cal to throw the harpoon. They'd laughed a lot, but caught no fish. Now Cal stood in the gap, holding onto the gondola with her left hand, while she timed her throw for when a round window in the other gondola rushed toward her. The boat hook flew across the gap, smashing through the window. Cal dropped to the deck and held onto the ring with all her strength. The rope snapped tautly and hummed at such a high note she feared it would break. The forward pull of her ship slowly held the Ferandican airship steady.
Thanking whatever foresight had caused her to mount boiler and propeller below the gondola, Cal swung out onto the rope and slid across to the other ship. Her feet took up the momentum as she hit the gondola, and she hung from the rope against the hull of the airship. A clip in her hand made quick work of cleaning the remaining shards of glass from the window. Cal tied the end of the second rope to a clip on the first, then clipped it to herself, tying it off to give ten feet of leeway.
Cal gripped the frame of the window and unfastened her harness from the rope attaching the two ships.
"Princess!" Cal shouted as she pulled herself through the window. "Princess, can you hear me!?" Something moved over by the wall. Cal undid the short rope, fastened it to a nearby chair, then ran across the room. The woman looked younger than Cal. She huddled around a baby who, to Cal's relief fussed as soon as his mother moved. They were wrapped in several blankets against the cold.
"The crew fell attempting to stop the ship." The princess said through chattering teeth.
Cal took the baby and placed it on a blanket, then folded the cloth to make a bag. She lifted the princess to her feet and dragged her across the room. The short rope tied the blanket shut and made sure the child wouldn't fall if his mother lost her grip.
"Princess, pardon my familiarity." Cal hoisted up the woman's skirts and put the second harness on her, she clipped the two of them together, then fastened the princess to the rope.
"Hold your child. Keep your eyes closed. Pray if you want." Cal climbed out the window, hung from the harness as she hauled the princess and her baby through. All the climbing paid off as Cal hauled them hand over hand back to her airship. As she reached her gondola the vibration of the rope changed. Cal pulled herself up then yanked the princess in. They rolled across the floor as the rope snapped, leaving the near end flapping in the wind. They'd been far too close to death.
Cal squirmed out of her harness, then tied the princess to the ring.
"Sorry to abandon your ship, but I can't run it by myself and I don't think it could fly against the storm in any case. Hold on.
Back at the bow, Cal strapped in and unlocked the levers. The flight was rougher now as they flew against the wind. Each gust tossed them side to side. Whimpering behind her meant the princess lived. She had the blanket, but even then, she didn't have long at these temperatures.
The engine howled as Cal pushed the pressure to the limit of safety. The valve showed the pressure dropping, faster than she'd hoped. At this rate, they wouldn't make it safe to land. Not close, but closer than the land, lights shone against the black water. Cal steered toward the lights.
The lights belonged to a ship of the line. The watch shouted when they saw the airship. Cal held her position over the ship. A sailor climbed the loading crane. Sitting precariously balanced, he threw a rope up to her as she kept as close as she dared. Cal ran the rope around the rings holding Cal's straps to the main keel. She crawled to the back and pulled the princess and her child to the bow where she clipped the other woman to the rope, putting her leg through the loop of the empty harness, Cal lowered herself and the princess down the rope to the deck of the ship.
Sailor caught them and rushed them into the warmth of the infirmary. Cal wanted to tell them to cut the airship loose, but shaking overtook her and no words could make it past her chattering teeth. The ship's doctor plied them with warm sugar water and wrapped them in blankets with bed warmers.
Exhaustion pulled at Cal, but she refused to let sleep take her until the baby cried and the princess hushed at her son.
***
The HMSS Wellington steamed into port tugging the airship behind it, bobbing in the wind. The Captain informed Cal the crew had spent the night climbing up the rope and tying the airship down with the heaviest ropes they could manage. They didn't know what to do with the strange engine, so left it until the steam ran out.
Cal supervised the use of horses to pull the airship to where it could be securely moored in a sheltered place between two warehouses. The captain of the Wellington posted guards around it, then commandeered a steam carriage to take Cal, the princess and the infant to the palace in the city. A messenger had been dispatched as soon as they docked to inform the palace of the successful rescue.