Adrift V
Sixty-seven years earlier…
Sail duels were not uncommon. With a great majority of islanders skilled at navigating the air currents between land masses, mid-air battles were a natural evolution. Song and legend recount some glorious air engagements where blood rain painted the skies for days at a time. This particular duel was personal though. Two single combatants settling a challenge issued in honorable form.
Jorey was known as Jenifar in this tale, and the troop of wind riders she commanded watched on as the duel began upon the island of Kremm. It was Lord Kremm with whom she dueled in an attempt to settle air rights over an orbital pass between the wealthy island and the territory of the Sky Knives, those under Jenifar’s command.
No outside interference was permitted, and the pair of combatants took to the air without hesitation to isolate themselves from potential trickery. For Jorey, the trickery came from her opponent.
Lord Kremm had acquired an outlawed bio-mimetic poison which, after a few nicking slices, began to eat away at the sail suit which kept Jorey aloft. He had lured her into broad air and then began to gloat as her aerial finesse faltered. She took the only chance that came to her and grappled with the sizable man in close quarters, bent on sailing her opponent to safety.
The poison spread to Lord Kremm, and the pair plummeted from Kremm’s orbit, racing toward the fiery mantle below.