After two days the rain finally and mercifully stopped, their new guest hadn't left his quarters at all, not even for meals. By now the entire crew was extremely curious but also kept their distance.
Audrey and Alexis were standing on the flying deck watching the two moons reach their apex. They looked at one another, dressed totally in black with small satchels. They smiled at one another and slowly extended their claws. They gently climbed over the side of the ship, their claws keeping them firmly attached to the ship. They carefully climbed to the window of the guest quarters and looked in. They saw the man laying bundled up in the bed fast asleep. They both smiled and Alexis carefully opened the window. They crawled inside, their ears twitching at every little sound. They saw the trunk the man had brought with him underneath the desk, there were four locks on it. That was both a good and bad sign, good because whatever was inside was extremely valuable, bad because it probably was magically locked. Audrey slipped her tools from her satchel and slid underneath the table. Alexis slipped underneath the table as well and slowly unrolled to open lock spell scrolls. Audrey slipped the picks in her mouth and took the first scroll. She ran her finger over the words and watched them glow one by one. The soft click of the first magical lock made both their ears twitch and their tails swish. Audrey gently unlocked the second lock making both them smile. Audrey removed the picks from her mouth and gently slipped them into the first lock. As Audrey's slender hands slowly started to work the picks they heard footsteps on the table above them. They both looked one another and both quickly pulled themselves deeper under the table.
Suddenly there was a third meow and a feline voice hissing, " Intruders!!"
Both Audrey and Alexis peered out from under the table and saw a cat standing on the bed, its fur bristling and its tail pointed high in the air. The sound of blades begin drawn from their sheaths made both the Silvertail Sisters tense up. The figure in the bed leapt to her feet and hurled two large fireballs. Both Audrey and Alexis meowed as the fireballs crashed into their targets and rained the last bits down on the floor around the pair. A dagger was flung over their heads and they watched as she caught the dagger between her fingers and flung it back. There was a groan and one of them crashed into the floor. The woman leapt down and grabbed the dying man by the collar and slammed him hard on his back. " Who sent you!" she demanded, her almond shaped eyes flaming with rage.
" He knows where you are" the man gurgled before spitting blood into her face.
He made two more desperate gurgles and went limp. The woman looked over the body of the assassin directly into the faces of the two Catakas, her face splattered with blood and eyes flaming with the rush of combat. " Who are you two?" she asked curtly.
" In deep shit" meowed Alexis.

Gabriel and Elanna stumbled out of their cabins and saw a woman in a nightgown talking to Audrey and Alexis. They both exchanged puzzled glances and both hurried into the hallway. " Hi guys" said Audrey, " we have quiet the story for you."
" This is Ziu Yii" said Alexis, " she is our mystery guest."
Ziu turned and looked at the pair, " I'm afraid I've gotten you into trouble" she said.
" Yes she has" said a black cat cradled in Ziu's arms.
" And who are you?" asked Elanna, her eyes wide in surprise at a talking cat.
" This is Hellfire" said Ziu, " my familiar."
" What? You have two talking cats over there, what makes me so strange?" asked Hellfire.
" You are a regular cat, they are Catakas" said Gabriel, " it is like talking to a dog or a fish."
" Glad you think so highly of me" said Hellfire, " as we were saying, Ziu is an alchemist and a dark mage from the Order of Cze'Xeha. She has been on an expedition for some time searching for an extremely rare alchemy recipe. We found it and now have to get back to Yumaria alive with the recipe."
" Earlier this evening two assassins entered my cabin" said Ziu, " I had to dispatch them, Audrey and Alexis heard the noise and came running."
" Exactly" said Alexis.
Gabriel cocked his right eyebrow, " Okay, now to the more important question when should we expect the next visit from more assassins?" he asked.
" Soon" said Ziu, " I recommend all of you to be on your guard."
" Can we at least know who are after you?" asked Elanna.
" It is not necessary" she said before going back into her quarters.
The door closed and the locks again clicked. " What's going on?" asked Sebastian, wearing Elsenor's nightgown, " first we heard these thumps and smell something burning and now you are out here having a conference."
" Our passenger has turned out be worth all four Blood Hearts in trouble" said Elanna, " she just killed two assassins that apparently snuck through the window."
" And what are you two doing up here?" asked Sebastian pointing to Audrey and Alexis.
" We heard noises outside the ship and immediately thought of our mystery guest" said Audrey.
" Exactly" said Alexis.
" Indeed, that is why we're in the black get up" said Elanna, tweaking Audrey's ear.
" Well maybe we were looking for a donation to the Silvertail retirement fund" said Alexis.
" Let's worry about it tomorrow" said Sebastian, " hopefully our mysterious Yumichi will give us some more information about who is trying to kill her, but until we do see the sun I want three people on watch at all times. So you two already have volunteered and go wake Tanis he'll love to stand watch."
" Yes sir" said both Audrey and Alexis.
They sulked off to find Tanis, " You know that nightgown really makes your hips looks fabulous" teased Gabriel.
" Thanks" said Sebastian, " I was hoping it would give me that slimming effect."

Morning dawn cold and foggy, fall was taking full hold of the land. The Esmeraldas' Triumph was slowly starting its climb into the Zenar Mountains. The crew was finishing their breakfast when Ziu entered, full dressed in her black clothes and dumped a body on the table with a loud bang snapping everyone out of the early morning daze. " God that smells" meowed Alexis.
The center of the man's chest was a blackened charred area where Ziu fireball had impacted. " These are the men we are up against" she said, " I don't know who they work for, I was wondering if any of you would."
Gabriel grabbed the arm of the dead man and rolled the sleeve up. On his arm was an ornate tattoo of a fire breathing demonic dragon. " They are the Demon Society" said Gabriel, " assassins without peer, judging by the small number of scars next to the tattoo these were relatively inexperienced."
" Who do you know them?" asked Tanis.
" I ran a foul of them some years ago" said Gabriel, " had to fake my own death just to get away. They'll never divulge who hired them, can you think of a small number of people that would want you dead?"
" Unfortunately many people want me dead" said Ziu, " I am carrying an extremely powerful alchemy recipe. Several other groups within Yumaria want this recipe, let alone outsiders."
" How did you obtain this?" asked Elanna.
" We had been hearing rumors for months about the existence of Saktra's recipe" said Ziu, " we didn't believe them, when things stay lost for a thousand years they stay lost for a reason. But then a caravan passed through our province and one of the peddlers had a scrap of the recipe with him. He had no clue what it meant and only knew that it was ancient. He bought it off him along with the information of where he got it. He said he had gotten the scrap from a book dealer in Tyradoria. Intrigued I traveled to Tyradoria and located the book dealer after some convincing I learned he had obtain the scrap from an old man living deep in the woods but he had been dead for almost five years. I finally found the cabin the old man had been living in. It was filled with books, journals, and maps. His life had been dedicated to find Saktra's recipe and had discovered the recipe had been torn into four pieces by Saktra himself after he learned of what he had created shortly before killing himself so his human weakness would never let the recipe's secrets escape.
" He entrusted the pieces to his four assistant to take to the far ends of the world to hide forever. It took me three years to find the other three pieces but now that I have found them I have to make it back to our stronghold in Yumaria. For the last two weeks I've been chased and hounded by these guys. Now I'm rather insulted that these guys were just low rankers, I was hoping to get at least some middle management types."
" They might just be keeping an eye on you" said Gabriel, " the real nasty guys are probably waiting further on."
" Thanks" said Ziu, " that makes me feel much better. How much sooner until we reach Yumaria?"
" Two more days" said Sebastian, " the weather has not been in our favor."
" We best hurry I fear more danger lies ahead" she said.
Ziu turned and left the room with a chill in the air, the corpse still on the table. " Am I the only one creeped out by her?" asked Sam, peeking out from around the kitchen door.
" Yumichi have a tendency to do that" said Elanna.
" My people have had dealings with the Yumichi for years, of all your human races they are the most secretive and mysterious of them all" said Elsenor.
" You know much about them?" asked Tanis.
" Other than they are they are clan based society, their clans referred to as Orders of one ancient god or another. Each clan is ruled by a power female mage, they often intrigue with the other Orders in the hopes of gaining more power from the other. That one I think is close to the leader of her clan, possible a daughter or a lover. I can sense she had strong magical powers and a strange sense of doom is hanging about her, like she knows this mission will end her life" said Elsenor.
" Well I feel a whole lot better" said Sam, " if you don't mind I'm going to barricade myself in the kitchen and wait until we drop her off to come out."

Ziu barred the door to her quarters and sat at the desk. " Okay?" asked Hellfire, rubbing her soft fur against Ziu's arms.
" I have the feeling something terrible has happened" said Ziu, " I just can't figure out what."
" You worry too much" purred Hellfire, " brew some tea and relax."
Ziu was going to argue about letting her guard down but knew Hellfire was right. She took her trunk out from under the desk and waved her hand across the locks and listened to each one click open. She lifted the lid and took out her small kettle, two cups, and tea leaves. She started boiling the water and took her boots off. She looked at the knee length black leather boot, three years of walking on it had taken its toll, they were dull starting to turn grey, the soles were worn paper thin. Ziu planned to get all new clothes when she got home only then she believed she would be able to wear the new set out. Ziu's attention was drawn away from her boot as her kettle began to whistle. Ziu poured two cups and Hellfire began to lap from hers. Ziu tossed her boot on the ground, and enjoyed her tea.

Audrey and Alexis were sitting in the bottom of the ship tossing the yarn ball back and forth. " That was a close call" said Audrey.
" No shit" said Alexis, " I think our thieving skills are starting to fail us."
" No" said Audrey, " just our luck."
" Probably" said Alexis.
Alexis caught the yarn ball just as a long groan echoed from the front of the ship. They both looked at one another and then heard a cracking noise. They both knew what was happening. They raced into the front room where one of the two Rune Stones that kept the ship in the air was held. To their horror the large stone was crumbling before them. In a few minutes the ship would start to loose altitude, in a few more minutes they would meet the jagged peaks of the Zenar Mountains.

Sebastian and Elanna were on the flying deck when they felt the entire ship shudder. " What was that?" asked Elanna.
Suddenly Audrey and Alexis sprang up from below, " The forward Rune Stone is crumbling!" shrieked Audrey.
" It's what?" asked Elanna.
" It is crumbling, we have to land!" shouted Alexis.
" There is a city" said Gabriel, sticking his head out of his window and shouting up to the flying deck, " northwest 15 degrees."
" Can we make it?" asked Elanna.
" We're going to find out" said Sebastian.

The Esmeraldas' Triumph slowly began to sink in the sky, the city was just ahead. Sebastian fought with the sluggish controls, without both Rune Stones the ship was turning into a real beast. Both Sebastian and Gabriel fought with the wheel trying to keep the vessel on course while Elanna and Tanis tried to manipulate the sails on the side of the vessel in the hopes of catching enough wind to assist in keeping it up in the air long enough to crest the next peak so they could get into the town. The Esmeraldas' Triumph scrapped the top of the peak but managed to make it over. The ship quickly descended into the town's small airship dock.
The landing was rough, but they had landed. Their entrance was dramatic enough to bring out numerous members of the town to see what was going on. Sebastian and the crew stepped meet several very official looking men on the dock. " Welcome to Skyview" said a man with a red jacket, " I'm Hallis the mayor, what brings you and your fine ship here?"
" We lost one of our Rune Stones" said Sebastian.
" I'm Louis the owner of the dock, I'm afraid we don't have any Rune Stones here, I'll have to send to Denkic for one that is two days away" said a fat bald man with a long moustache.
" No problem" said Sebastian, " we are more than willing to pay for your trouble."
" Very good sir" said Louis.
" I'm afraid our only inn is full at the moment" said Hallis, " we normally don't get many travelers."
" Quiet all right" said Sebastian, " our ship is perfect for our short stay."
Hallis nodded and the men quickly walked down the dock and back into town. " Is it just me or does this place feel wrong?" asked Elanna.
" Yes something isn't right" said Sebastian.
" They are watching you" said Ziu, wearing her cloak and hat, " I'm not sure if it is curiosity or that we have come at the wrong time."
" Let's just stay on the ship and let them do whatever they want to do" said Gabriel, " the sooner we can leave the better."

Hallis, Louis, and the other town elders looked out of the window of the mayor's house, " What are they doing here?" asked Louis, " they could ruin everything."
" I know but maybe it was just an accident" said another elder, " we should continue with the ritual."
" Did you see a member of their crew?" asked Hallis, " a Faerie, we don't need ten virgins if we can us her."
The elders smiled in agreement, " But how do we get her?" asked Louis.
" We have four days to think of that" said Hallis, " now its time to get to work."