While Quinn found the early history lessons enthralling, once the war and post-war eras had been covered, the curriculum digressed into the long and boring history of House Aden. Quinn found himself being forced to memorize the names of the various Kings and Queens who sat upon the Hanging Throne.
"King Redmond Aden was the last king to reign during the Free City Era," Professor Morne explained. "Empress Sasha of House Varelion turned her predatory gaze toward our great city during the thirteenth year of the king''s reign. She sent an oculomancer to the Hanging Throne with a message proposing annexation and the king''s surrender. The king immediately rejected the offer, which provoked the empress into declaring war. This eventually led to the first and only military defeat in the history of White Chasm."
Fascinating, Quinn thought, suddenly interested. How the hell did they manage to get all the way up here with their army?
"Naturally, the empress faced an insurmountable challenge," the professor continued. "White Chasm is unassailable from the Ash Sea and inaccessible from the east. To the south, the city is only accessible through a series of caves, but they are well-hidden and defended by a special unit of Aden family soldiers. Finally, the private hunting ground of House Aden, the Western Face, lies beyond the Spine Range to the west. The shelf stands one thousand feet over the western river valley, and is inaccessible to ground forces, even with donkeys.
"From north to south, the Western Face is only about two miles long, and while an airship could land there in theory, in practice a very small margin of error would be required to navigate there in the fog. Furthermore, the Aden clan had prepared for such a possibility by building watchtowers at the top of every peak nearby. The watchmen were trained and equipped to recognize the sound of steam engines, and they used a system of horns to pass warnings to the Hanging Throne.
"Shortly after declaring war, the empress assembled a new unit of scouts from the island of Vjiskald. She sent her oculomancers, including the Eyes of Empire, to help guarantee the secrecy of the new unit. These scouts spent the next two years slowly pushing out into the unclaimed lands around the base of Spire Erika, enduring brutal wind and cold. They deposited hidden caches of coal along a circuitous route through the mountains, barely skirting the visual range of the Aden family watchtowers.
"In the meantime, she ordered the construction of over two hundred hot-air balloons. These balloons were arranged in a huge square and bound together with ethersteel chains. Wooden platforms were constructed along the rim of the square, each hosting an array of steam-powered propellers. An elaborate series of light signals was devised, allowing the engineers and firemen to communicate across the gaps between platforms. A second series of sound signals was used to give commands to the hot air balloon pilots."
Genius!
"The entire craft was constructed in absolute secrecy. Each hot air balloon was filled with a small squad of six soldiers, including the pilot, and in total the craft was able to carry thirteen hundred soldiers. It was the largest flying machine ever built, both then and now. It also featured a new design of coal-powered steam engines, equipped with sound-echoing cones that directed more of the noise up into the sky."
"This is the perfect time to announce our Aviation Club!" Quinn whispered. "After this lecture."
Seth was transfixed by the lecture, and he did not respond.
"Like modern airships, the craft was unable to fly above the fog, so it was nearly impossible to navigate without help from the oculomancers. Citing safety concerns, the oculomancers refused to ride on the craft, which forced the crew to use dead reckoning instead, similar to a steamboat. The speed of the wind was combined with data from a compass and an accurate chronometer to determine location from fixed points. However, this method does not account for the speed of the air naturally, and since many fixed points need to be deduced from the data, errors tend to compound over time.
"However, the location of the caches was carefully mapped out, and each cache was placed upon a mirror that reflected the lights on the bottom of the hot air balloons, lights which were shielded by cylindrical tubes to avoid detection from the watchtowers. When a new cache was located and the coal recovered, dead reckoning would be used to reach the next cache, which prevented the compounding effect of the errors. In addition, the very scouts who explored those mountains were present on the airship, and they were able to assist in navigating by using glimpses of nearby peaks through the fog.
"The Aden family oculomancers would be able to see auras even through the fog, so no auras were carried on the craft. Empress Sasha deposited her aura at the Bank of Grael Nydia, dressed herself in the garb of an Aden family soldier, and boarded the craft, placing her very life at risk. In addition, a single horse, purchased in the borderlands between Lyn and the Theocracy, was stabled on a special platform in the center of the airship.
"In an astonishing feat of navigation and military discipline, the airship was able to sail undetected to the final cache, in the foothills of Spire Erika, south-west of the Western Face. Beyond that point, the empress would no longer enjoy the benefits of known, fixed points. Night fell, and the craft flew at her maximum altitude, purely by dead reckoning, in an attempt to reach the Western Face. Perhaps by pure luck, or perhaps by fate, or perhaps through a deep understanding of the wind patterns, the airship succeeded in landing upon the very southern ridge of the Western Face, completely undetected.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
"The Varelion soldiers spread out and hid in the copses of trees. The Aden watchmen on the shelf carried torches and they were accompanied by watchdogs. It did not take long for the dogs to begin barking, and soon the air was filled with the sound of gunfire. With a torch in hand, the empress herself rode through the Spine Ridge, shouting a warning to the Aden soldiers that the Western Face was under attack. But she kept on riding, down through the University, all the way to the bank in the town to the south. There, she discarded the Aden family uniform and equipped a more regal garb before entering the bank. She calmly explained that she wanted to withdraw her family aura. The bankers were shocked to see the empress, but they did not know about the invading army. She was also a Heritor, so technically her request was well within her rights, a fact which the bankers in Grael Nydia insisted would be the case.
"As soon as the empress had her aura, the oculomancers knew something was wrong. They warned King Redmond that a large spherical aura had appeared in the University Fjord, and the king immediately recognized the danger. In order to prevent damage to his palace, he rode out into the fjord to face Sasha Varelion in an honorable duel. In a storm of lightning, ice, and fire, the two Heritors battled.
"Because the Varelion soldiers enjoyed both surprise and overwhelming numbers, the Aden family soldiers were being slaughtered wholesale on the Western Face. They pushed through into the University Fjord and threw themselves at Redmond Aden, wave after wave, fearlessly charging the Heritor even as they were ripped apart by his ethermancy. But it was enough to distract the king, and the empress gained the upper hand. The king was trapped, and one brave imperial soldier got close enough to spear him through the chest.
"Without another large aura in the city, Empress Sasha quickly subjugated the Aden clan and forced them to bend the knee, heralding the beginning of the Imperial Era. When the Elder Saint discovered Heritor Sasha''s antics, the empress was summoned to Spire Annatiki, where she was heartily chastised. To this day, the banks no longer allow Heritors to withdraw large auras that were deposited at a different bank. Next week, we will turn our attention to Queen Sophie of House Aden, the first loyal subject of the Empire of Nydia to sit upon the Hanging Throne. And now, we have a special announcement from the dean."
Heads turned to face the doors at the upper tier. Yana Justicia Sophia stood in the center, flanked on one side by a tall blonde woman in silks and jewels, and flanked on the other side by a teenager wearing bright red robes laced with onyx filigree.
"That''s Kiera Blaine!" Seth hissed, right in Quinn''s ear.
And by Father Winter he was right. Quinn had only seen a glimpse of the woman one time, covered in blood and bile, miraculously healing a disemboweled man. She looked beautiful. Her fine dress was the color of the sky on a clear day, with just a tiny touch of red to shift the color toward purple. Her hair was done up in a crown of braids, revealing the nape of her neck and huge golden earrings. Quinn was certain that she was wearing enough gold and sapphires that, if misfortune should lead to her falling into a body of water, she would immediately sink like a rock. Oh and those wide hips! That great, billowing bosom!
"I think I''m in love," Seth said.
"Me too," Quin admitted.
Dean Yana marched down to the professor''s podium and cleared her throat. "We have a special announcement to make. Unprecedented, even. It is no secret that our school is in disrepair. The student dormitories are practically falling apart. A few weeks ago I sent a letter to each of the Heritors here in White Chasm, beseeching them for their aid. King Edwin never replied, and Princess Lucia is far away, serving as the Ambassador of White Chasm in Emperor Corrin''s court. Much to our great fortune, Princess Claire Aden responded. Not only did she offer to aid in the reconstruction of our dormitories, she astonished me by offering to attend the university for the remainder of the year."
When the dean stopped talking, she nodded to the teenager in the red robes. The girl spoke, "We Heritors live in our palaces, and, from our perspective, the plight of the common folk is a pure abstraction."
The girl''s voice was child-like, and very soft. She often paused mid-sentence, as if she had memorized the words she was saying.
"I have decided that this must end," the girl continued. "I have enrolled at my family''s university, so that I might experience the conditions for myself. While the king might ignore your pleas for help, he may be more amenable if it is my voice that carries a firsthand report of the conditions here."
"Excellent!" Dean Yana beamed. "Do not worry, her attendance will not skew your grades in classes which are graded on a curve. In fact, Princess Claire will be mentored by Princess Kiera of House Blaine."
Kiera waved at the students with a confident smile.
"This is an unprecedented moment in the history of our institution. No Heritor has ever enrolled here. It is my hope that this will establish a new precedent, so that our university will never again fall into such disrepair. Please be kind to Princess Claire and Princess Kiera."
"Thank you Yana," Professor Morne said. "As homework, please read chapter sixteen. There will be a surprise quiz at the start of our next lecture. You are dismissed."
The students began to murmur as they gathered their things and stood up. Seth stood up and shouted, "Aviation Club! We are starting a new Aviation Club! Me and Quinn! We are accepting new members right now!"
"If you liked today''s lecture!" Quinn shouted, "then come on up! Our Aviation Club is going to invent the world''s first flying machine with wings!"
"Aviation Club!" Seth repeated. "Who wants to ride on a boring old balloon! Come fly like a bird with us! Don''t miss out!"
A handful of students orbited around them, clearly interested. Remarkably, Kiera Blaine glided up the stairs and walked down the tier, stopping right in front of Seth.
Thou shalt make no machine in the likeness of a bird, Quinn thought. This woman is a Heritor. What the hell does she want?
"Princess," Seth said. "Would you like to join the Aviation Club?"
"I would love to join! A flying machine with wings, oh my! That sounds dangerous. I am a healer, and while I am not very interested in flying machines, I can always fix you up if you get hurt."
"We would love to have you!" Seth insisted.
Quinn was speechless, completely frozen with suspicious astonishment. Does Claire Aden really care about our living conditions? he wondered. What sort of game are these Heritors playing?