Dominic and Alexis ate quickly, as the airship ride was long, and everyone was already waiting on them to be ready.
Under normal circumstances, Dominic would have said that they could have come to get him as soon as the airships were beginning to load, but on this particular morning, that would have exposed the Crown Prince to secrets that no older brother need ever learn.
"Crown Prince, we will be on our way. Thank you for having the airship wait for us." Dominic announced in his best formal tone the moment that they finished eating.
"Relax, we’re family now. Plus, you married into a Dukedom. Or perhaps the Princess married into your Dukedom. I haven’t seen the formal announcement yet. Either way, you’re also a titled and landed Noble of Cygnia, close to my Rank for now.
But one last thing before you go."
The Prince paused, and Dominic waited for him to finish.
"I’m still not happy about you getting your hands on my sister."
Dominic did his best not to laugh, while Alexis blushed and swatted at her older brother’s arm.
Prince Claudius just shrugged. "I will have you know that I am still in favour of you joining a holy order and becoming a nun if you decide that marriage is not for you. Even when I become King, I will support it.
But do you know what this impertinent man told me when I suggested it?
He told me that battle nuns were sexy."
Now it was Dominic’s turn to give the Princess what he hoped was an innocent shrug.
"Enough about my love life. Let’s get going, husband." Princess Alexis insisted.
"Best of luck with the negotiations. We will do our best to stabilize the region we’ve been granted by the King." Dominic added.
The airship Captain looked visibly relieved when Dominic and Alexis rode out to the edge of the city, with Commander Dax and a pair of cavalry escorting them.
"Your Highness, Duke Wistover, it’s an honour to have you on board. We will depart immediately." The Captain announced.
The statement was redundant, as the crew was already starting to prepare to ascend.
They had learned that it was more efficient to not reduce lift, but to hold the airship down with thrust from the propellers. So, as soon as they untied the mooring lines and rotated the direction of thrust, the airship rapidly began to ascend.
"Is it still viewed as unsafe to be near the ground?" Dominic asked.
The Captain smiled. "You could call it a wartime superstition. No Cygnia Airship has been lost above one thousand metres above the ground. So, we move high and fast, where no other nation’s airships can easily ambush us, and where we will normally have the advantage of altitude if we do have to fight."
The airship had three drive assemblies on each side, instead of two, like the ones that they had upgraded at Burton had. It was made for larger capacity cargo movements, but with a higher top speed and better performance toward the wind.
"You might as well get comfortable, Highness, Your Grace. It’s two days to the Capital, and there isn’t much to do on board." The Captain informed them as the airship continued on its course.
There also weren’t any private rooms aboard the cargo airship, a fact that Crown Prince Claudius had assuredly known when he chose to send them back on one.
He really was protective, even after his sister was married.
Fortunately, both Alexis and Dominic had brought entertainment in the form of books, and they could be easily entertained.
The Princess was absorbed in a romance novel she had found, while Dominic was reading up on all of the little details that came with operating a Manor and estate so that he wasn’t caught unaware when something inevitably came up.
The King wanted to announce the appointment directly, and the addition of a new Dukedom to the Kingdom was no small event, both from a political and territorial standpoint.
The airship shook too much for Dominic to do any precision work, so there would be no creation of new Magitech Orbs while they were moving at full speed. But Dominic did make a copy of the blueprint for his recent work to give to pops, then a second one for the King.
It was best to come with a gift of some sort if you were summoned to the Capital, even if you lived there.
With the work done on the first day, the second day was left entirely to relaxation as they crossed from Dagos back into Cygnia. There hadn’t been much risk on this flight, with the armies well behind them. But just being back over friendly airspace let the crew breathe a sigh of relief.
"Princess, there will be staff waiting at the docks to help you prepare for the meeting with the King. The radio man reports that your presence is requested immediately after landing.
Lord Sorcerer, it’s been a pleasure to have you on board. Fortunately, we didn’t need to demonstrate our abilities with the autoloading Cannons today." The airship’s Captain informed them as the city came into sight.
"What is the range on the radios? I’ve noticed lately that we are very close when orders get relayed." Dominic asked.
"About thirty kilometres, give or take? The further up you are, the easier it is to get and relay a signal. But the radios were designed before the magitech trucks were, when thirty kilometres was half a day by horse or a full day for infantry.
Now that we’re using airships, they don’t feel quite as impressive. After all, you can see another airship on the horizon from that distance, and they might not be able to hear you." The Captain replied.
"I will talk to the engineers and see if we can do anything to upgrade that. And, I will try to get actual radios in the trucks, not just receivers. That was a real pain when we forgot to pack a backpack portable unit with us on this trip."
The crew of the airship chuckled. Units losing their radios was a common thing during the war with Dagos. The radio was often targeted, in order to cut off communications.
In more established positions, lines would be run. But in a constantly moving battlefield, that simply wasn’t practical.
Even though anyone could hear a radio transmission.