Free Chenda and the Airship Brofman by Emilie P. Bush Page B

visitors from the West. Any explorers or traders who attempted to make contact with the Empire were murdered on sight. Then the Emperor would have the bodies of the dead Kiters packed onto their own ships and set 'em adrift on the Kohlian Sea. People took the hint after a few years and quit going east.”
    Fenimore stopped abruptly. “How old are you?” he asked.
    “Twenty-two,” she said.”Why?”
    “Well, about a dozen years before you were born,” he continued, “Prime Minister Mabe Idadell sent a scientific delegation across the sea to establish contact in the Empire. Idadell sent the envoy on one of the Republic's newest inventions, the airship. The flying vessel really captured the imagination of Emperor Varin IV. He began to crave the advanced technology from the Republic, and opened limited trade within the capitol city of Kotal to Kiter merchants.
    “It soon became apparent that most Kiters and Tugrulians were never going to see eye to eye. We're just too different ideologically. However, there were a few Tugrulians that began to question the way the Emperor kept such a tight leash on his people, and there was talk of change in the Empire. The Emperor panicked and denounced the Kiters for theological reasons. He mobilized his massive army to slaughter every Citizen of Kite's Republic within the borders of the Tugrulian Empire. The Emperor, still craving the inventions of Kite's Republic, began to send spies and raiding parties across the sea.
    “You know the rest of the story from there, I'm sure,” he concluded.
    “The start of the war," Chenda said sadly. “I was just a baby then, so I can hardly recall.”
    “Well, I remember it a little,” Fenimore reflected. “I was five when the first attacks came. The truce came just before I was old enough to join the R.A.S.”
    “Can you tell me more about the Tugrulians, Lieutenant?”
    “Sure I can, lots. But it will have to be at another time,” he said. The Brofman floated just a few yards out from the slip now, and Fenimore moved toward the glass doors and out onto the platform. 
    “Call me Fenimore, by the way,” he called over his shoulder.
    Chenda followed him onto the platform and looked up at the deck of the Brofman where Captain Endicott rested one foot on the railing of his airship. He threw a mooring line to Fenimore, who quickly secured the airship to the pier.
    Candice joined Chenda as the captain smiled broadly and waved. He glanced at Chenda and shouted down to her, “Well, you've had a rough day haven't you? I hardly recognize you.”
    His eyes landed on Candice. “Hello, Professor. You two climb on up here and bring my money.”
     
    Chapter 6
    THE CREW OF THE AIRSHIP BROFMAN
     
    Fenimore Dulal took the bags from Chenda and Candice and tossed them onto the deck of the Brofman . He backed up two steps, made a running leap, and jumped off the pier. His hands caught the ship's railing, and he flipped himself onto the deck with apparent ease. Fenimore flipped a lever on the railing and a gangway unfolded from the airship and rested at Candice's feet.
    “All aboard,” the captain said with more than a bit of pride in his voice.
    Candice smiled broadly and went aboard with Chenda following close behind.
    “Wonderful to see you again, captain, but let's talk again about when my money becomes your money, shall we?” The captain took her hand and, with a flourish, placed it on his elbow, leading her along the deck railing toward the wheelhouse.
    As the jovial debate between the captain and the professor continued, Fenimore stepped to Chenda's side. He did not make the same overly dramatic gesture of whisking her away, arm in arm. He merely smiled at her, keeping his hands at his sides, and said, “We'll be heading out in a few minutes. Let me show you where you can settle in.” He led her to the very center of the deck and down a flight of narrow stairs. At the bottom was a corridor that ran the length of the ship. Fenimore waved his