This story is part of the Wanderer series.
Clouds flashing, wind wailing, rain pelted the side of the small castle as it tried to approach. A sudden gust knocked it off course for a brief moment, veering to the side with the wind, before it corrected itself. Chiyoko pressed herself against the wall of the castle turret, holding onto the hood of her cloak as it wildly flailed. She felt the stone beneath her groan as if it would rupture at any moment.
“Are you certain the castle can withstand this?!” she hollered over her shoulder.
“Certainly, dear!” Lev assured, keeping his eyes straight forward. “Would you head off the port side gales a bit?!”
“I told you my barrier only lasts three minutes!” Chiyoko paused to readjust her grip as the flying castle lurched again. The pressure from the high-speed winds left her gasping for breath. “I thought you said getting into the storm was the hard part!”
“Indeed, dear! Now we must weather this storm!”
Chiyoko blinked as rainwater streamed down her face. There was a strong temptation to spend what little energy she could generate on shielding herself from the elements, but she remained focused on protecting the vulnerable castle. She did not want to bring her hands together to resonate more energy, afraid she would be flung off the walls if a strong gust blew over. Utterly exhausted from the past few arduous minutes, she would not be able to save herself.
“Can we not ascend higher?!” she yelled.
“Working on it, dear!”
The other mage had his back against the wall of the allure, crouched down with his hands together, his hood flapping ferociously behind his head. Chiyoko was impressed he was not swept up by the wind ages ago.
Measuring carefully, she determined they were indeed rising up the storm, albeit very gradually. Too slow for her waning patience.
“How about I give you a push?!”
“Nay! Focus on protecting the castle!”
At that moment, a sudden gale struck the port side, as if a colossal hammer smashed into the barrier. Chiyoko braced, but quickly lost her breath. A sharp pain erupted from the side of her torso, spreading from her chest down to her abdomen. Dropping her head, she uttered a gasp as she lost control of her barrier, exposing the flying castle to the storm’s wrath.
The entire castle lurched to the right, like a ship tipping over. It did not completely capsize, but remained tilted as it was swept away with the storm. The ground rumbled and the castle groaned louder than ever before. Rain pelted its two occupants even harder, striking them like thin little needles. Lev spread his feet out to maintain his footing, trying to keep the whole vessel from flipping. He saw his counterpart crumple over, one hand gripping her chest while the other clawed the turret wall to grip it for her dear life.
“Chee-yo!”
For a harrowing minute, the castle sailed through the sky in this precarious state. Chiyoko did not utter a word as she recovered, focusing instead on reestablishing the barrier.
“Hang in there, dear!”
Concentrating her energy on the port side, where the brunt of the storm was battering, she recuperated a partial barrier, alleviating the imbalanced forces on the castle. Lev was then able to right the vessel, getting it back on course.
“Bravo! Bravo!” he hollered.
Chiyoko remained hunched over, turtling from the battering rain. Her collapsed endurance left her deeply fatigued and miserable. Her body still ached, each gasping breath making it worse. Cold from the frigid rain, she began to quake, unable to reign herself in. She knew it was only a matter of time before she lost her grip on the barrier again.
“Enough,” she thought to herself. “This won’t last.”
After giving herself several moments to concentrate, she gathered the rest of the energy she could muster and pressed it against the underside of the flying castle, thrusting them upwards.
The sudden and unexpected force caught Lev off guard. The entire vessel hobbled side to side as he tried to stabilize, quickly realizing this was not the storm’s doing.
“Chee-yo!” he hollered again.
Chiyoko paid him no heed.
“Stop, Chee-yo! We will topple over!”
The rain seemingly fell harder as they quickly ascended. Visibility deteriorated as they tore through the clouds, dragging along some of their vapor with them. The ground rumbled from the pressure bearing down on it. As their vessel shoved aside the atmosphere, it did not cross Chiyoko’s mind to head off the sky above. She wanted to get out of here.
Knowing she was beyond reasoning, Lev saved his breath and did his best to keep the castle upright. The island pitched and yawed like a spinning top, almost tipping over several times. The mage stopped propelling the castle forward in order to stabilize its pitch, but left it spinning faster and faster. It was becoming harder to breathe, even for a seasoned navigator such as he.
Then, all of a sudden, it was quiet. Absolutely quiet.