Chapter 91: The Honeymoon Begins
Translated by XianPiete
As Madeline watched his hand lifting the veil and saw him leaning in for the kiss, she felt the last of her insecurities drift away, she suddenly felt as light as a feather. She leaned in and returned his kiss. Behind them, all of their family friends and political guests cheered wildly. The Pope smiled and moved out of the way as the newlyweds took each other's hands and raced up the aisle as rice was tossed in the air. Behind them, the sounds of cheering chased after them. Once outside, they saw the Montfort was tethered up with its gangplank lowered allowing them to run up inside. A great banner was hung from the side declaring, 'Just Married'. Quietly Diggory, Doreen, Olivier, Ella, and Algernon snuck aboard before the gangplank was raised and the great airship began to rise.
Guy and Madeline raced into the Owners quarters slamming the door behind them. Their friends snuck over to the door and started whispering between themselves, "I say not even a minute." Olivier whispered.
Doreen snorted and then whispered, "I bet he can go at least five minutes."
Diggory rubbed his chin and then said, "I'll say half an hour."
Ella looked angry at them and said, "Ye bunch are scandalous, I say 'e can't get it up and they come out while 'e calms 'iself down."
Algernon whispered, "What are we talking about?"
The door opened and a shirtless Guy growled out, "I say he opens the door and considers having a pack of mages tossed out the door from a thousand feet."
The lot of them started whistling and walking back toward the bridge as the shirtless Guy stared daggers at them. In the background, Madeline was already in bed under the covers hiding from the eyes down. Once his friends were gone the door closed. No one would ever learn who won the bet, but Guy and Madeline didn't emerge from the Owner's Cabin for a full day.
The Montfort was following a course that Guy set for it before they disappeared into the cabin. A gentle flight eight hundred feet above the ground. The other mages were all up on the observation deck watching the sights when Guy and Madeline came out dressed casually holding each other's hands. The two stood against the railing drinking champagne. Madeline smiled and asked, "Why are you here?"
Each of her friends pointed at a different friend while Diggory just blurted out, "Olivier asked us to come." After Diggory said that all the fingers pointed at Olivier who looked angry.
Olivier said, "I didn't see anyone staying behind, well, aside from Alicia."
Algernon raised his hand and said, "I just wanted to go with Doreen."
Ella sighed and said, "Ah, I'll right I admits it, I was curious like Oli."
Doreen shrugged and laughed, "I just wanted to see what Maddy looked like after her first time, I wanted to see if she was walking funny." She giggled.
Olivier snorted and wiggled his pinky at Doreen who laughed hysterically. Madeline blushed and said, "I was um... A little sore." She looked at Guy guiltily."
Above the Montfort, the sky was clear, not a cloud in sight when all of a sudden a thick black cloud started to form that was crackling with electricity. Everyone looked at the cloud with concern, Madeline yelled out, "Everyone I need you to get inside, we need to take evasive action!" They all rushed on to the bridge. Madeline started to bark out orders like the experienced captain she was, "I need full power to the port engines, starboard engines to full reverse, helm bring us to course one eight zero, down angle on the forward fins. All crew brace for the turn!" All around them the crew raced into action using the communication pipes to send orders to the crew in the back of the ship.
The giant airship slowly tipped until the deck was at a forty-five-degree angle. The sound of the engines whined loudly, a loud whistle was heard like on a locomotive as steam was let out from the starboard steam engines before they switched to reverse. The black cloud was sending down rapid strikes of electricity that started to beat down against the hull of the airship. Everyone's hair started to raise and a few crewmembers even took static charges that knocked them off their feet. Outside of the ship, the once clear day suddenly turned into dense fog and then everything went silent and turned pitch black.
*****
In the sky over Tokyo above a small inner city graveyard, a black cloud formed. Static electricity flowed through the air and suddenly, six hundred feet above the ground a great silver object appeared, looking something like an old world war one airship only strangely shaped as if it had been smashed down and remolded into a sleeker design that wouldn't be possible and still be airworthy. People all over Tokyo couldn't help seeing it as it was huge, almost ten times the size of a Boeing 747.
Madeline was one of the first to awaken, she looked out over Tokyo and stammered, "W-w-where are we?" It didn't take long before helicopters started to circle the airship. On the ground around it, police cars came racing up.
Guy staggered as he looked out the window and whispered, "It's... This is my home, Madeline. This is Tokyo."
Everyone stared out the windows in complete awe. Everywhere they looked were incredible things that shouldn't be possible. Strange signs that moved and lit up in amazing colors. Buildings that stood taller than even the tower of magic. Clustered together like a forest of buildings. Carriages that moved without horses. Millions of people moving on streets that looked like they were made out of rock and then painted with bright lines. The sounds of a major city were deafening to the people aboard the ship who had only the airship itself to compare it to.
Madeline looked at Guy who was lost in thought, "Do you want to visit your family?"
Guy nodded. He turned and looked at the others, "Madeline and I will go, please, just stay on the ship. I am begging you. The powers that live here aren't what you are used to, and you won't be able to communicate."
He looked at Madeline, "If the gate spell works, we'll go, if not, I think we'll need to expect to be imprisoned." He waited for her to nod before he crossed his fingers and said, "Gate."
The silvery gate opened and then Guy took Madeline by the hand, "It's time to meet your other in-law."
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