Emerald palms framed the sapphire sky as Glenice peered north through the spy plane's telescope. The craft, which was slightly larger than a normal two-person biplane, was parked on the edge of a dusty runway. The tiny airfield had been constructed on a slight upward slope within sight of the sea to the south. The reliable offshore winds provided ideal conditions for takeoff and landing, and the location, at the very southern tip of Taisia, provided an ideal location for launching intelligence missions to Kanti.

  A pair of airplanes appeared over the jungle-cloaked hills to the north. A larger two-person biplane and a somewhat undersized biplane which was no doubt flown by the emperor's daughter Natasha. Unlike the spy plane, the two aircraft on approach were clearly visible in their bright red liveries. Perhaps a new paint scheme would be necessary against an enemy with similar technology, but the red coloration had been chosen to make them easier to see during training exercises.

  Natasha made a perfect landing. The child, at just eleven years old, was a natural pilot. Remarkably, she didn't have any memories of past lives, a fact which the emperor verified with the help of a Light Elemental. Algot Gunn, unfortunately, was not nearly as skilled. When he landed on the upslope the airplane bounced hard and floated aloft a little ways before the runway came up to hit the wheels again. Soldiers on the ground guided the two airplanes to their parking spots at the top of the slope, not far from where the spy plane was parked.

  Not one, but two figures emerged from the back seat of Algot's biplane. One of them was a short woman with long, pointy ears, and for a moment Glenice questioned whether or not the woman was even human. The other was just a child, female, and clearly related to Natasha, who rushed over and grabbed the girl by the hand.

  "Here she is," Algot Gunn announced as he approached. "Scylla, meet Glenice. Glenice, this is Scylla. She's an elf."

  "That explains it," Glenice said, in a tone that indicated otherwise.

  "And this is my new sister Vaska," Natasha said. "Imperial Princess Vaska."

  "Going to teach her how to fly too?" Glenice asked.

  "We are just here to explore the geography," the elf said. "Come, Lady Peace. Pay careful attention to your surroundings."

  "Okay," the child said.

  They sauntered off.

  "What's that about?" Glenice asked.

  "I'm not sure," Algot Gunn said. "Some power that the child has. It requires familiarity with places."

  "Power?"

  He shrugged.

  "Here. Take a look at this."

  He reached up and offered Glenice a book. It looked and felt quite old and fragile, but also somewhat familiar. Upon closer inspection she realized she had held the same book before, in her previous life. She recognized the ancient language. Quickly, she perused the contents, and her face contorted into a frown.

  "Is something wrong?" Algot asked.

  "We have already rediscovered some of this. But it's nice to have the proper equations. Where did you find this?"

  Algot Gunn explained the strange tale as she finished the pre-flight inspections on the biplane. A magic circus in shades of gray, an Elemental Queen in a white top hat, the huge coffin containing the abomination named Kai, and the world's first flying machine on display in the museum. Upon a second inspection, the textbook contained a few hand-drawn diagrams folded in the back endpapers.

  "I think you'll find the knots interesting," Algot said.

  And Glenice did find the knots interesting. The rigging ended in loops which were then spiraled around by the end of the rope and glued in place. It was something simple that could be applied to the biplanes immediately.

  "I wonder how they came up with this," she said.

  "I asked Kai about it before we left. He said that the flying machine had been invented in an era when boats used square rigging. Such knots would have been common knowledge among sailors. The reason we didn't think of it is because modern boats are powered by Fire Elementals."

  She passed the book down to the man.

  "We will need a translation."

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  "When we get back to the workshop. Hop in front. I'm almost done here."

  "You don't want to fly?"

  "No," Glenice said. "This is going to be a long mission. I've made some modifications to the back seat."

  He nodded and went up front without saying anything. Glenice twisted the brass knobs on the telescope to lock it in place, facing straight forward to reduce drag. Not long after, Algot Gunn summoned a Wind Elemental to block the sound, followed by a Fire Elemental to start the engine. The whole craft rattled.

  "Sound check." His voice echoed in the half-capsule of isolated air.

  "Affirmative," Glenice said.

  Flags appeared over the rim of the forward cabin. In spite of the remote airfield, the marines on the ground, in perfect military discipline, replied with their own flags. The biplane lurched forward and turned sharply to face downhill. They rolled down the runway, then turned around at the very end to face uphill, into the wind. Algot Gunn aligned the nose along the center of the runway.

  The engine roared. The advance of the biplane was strained by the slight uphill slope, yet the dusty runway rolled by, faster and faster. The emerald palms became a blur. The needles rose. Even within the Wind Elemental's barrier Glenice could still hear the propeller beating against the oncoming wind. The wings began to lighten and then jostle with the sudden weight of the fuselage and its occupants. The four tips of the wings contorted upward and Glenice felt the familiar sensation of an elevator suddenly accelerating up, the sudden G-force to balance gravity.

  The ground dropped away. They crested the ridge of the runway and the cliffs dropped sharply over the jungle toward the white sands and cerulean waters of the south sea. There were small cotton-like puffs of cloud spaced out across the ocean to the south and these clouds cast a patchwork of shadows which scrunched together by degrees near the horizon. The biplane climbed even to the level of those clouds and then higher still, revealing the sun-reflecting whiteness of the wispy tops. Still they climbed until the distance between the biplane and the clouds matched the distance between the clouds and the ocean. Only then did they level off.

  They flew due south for several hours before Glenice spotted a dark landmass through the spy plane's telescope.

  "Land ahead," she said.

  "Affirmative."

  From their lofty heights the biplane would be very difficult to spot from the ground. Like some sea creature, the underside of the craft was painted with pale colors, and would blend against the sapphire dome of the sky. There would need to be Shadow Hunters deployed along the north coast of the landmass to even detect them, and even this eventuality was unimportant, as the enemy had no way of reaching the altitude of the biplane even with their most powerful cannons.

  When they got closer, Glenice used a contract crystal to summon a pair of Shadow Hunters. The two wolf-shaped Elementals appeared, one white, and one black, trotting through the air beside the biplane.

  "Are there any souls down there?" she asked.

  No souls, the white wolf replied in her mind.

  The wolf repeated this response all up and down the coast. There was nothing but jungle on the headlands below the biplane when they arrived. Glenice located the region on her map and they flew east to a nearby village. Only then did the Shadow Hunters detect souls, and a quick inspection of the village through the telescope revealed nothing of note. Just some mostly-naked savages armed with spears and bows. No military encampments, no military equipment, and no visible industry.

  They flew on to the east, to the closest city with a harbor. There were some fishing boats and canoes but no battleships or other troop transports. For a nation preparing a massive invasion of the Taisian mainland, the north shore betrayed suspicious quietude. Glenice expected to see at least some soldiers stationed in the city. Perhaps a convoy with artillery pieces, or some covered autocars. But there was nothing.

  "Where the hell are the soldiers?" Glenice asked.

  "They are hiding," he said.

  "Yeah, but where?"

  "They know we have airplanes. They know they're visible from the sky. Maybe they are underground? Or maybe they built a false ground somewhere?"

  "We should go back to the north point," Glenice said. "I want another look."

  Algot turned the biplane around. They flew northwest toward the northernmost point, which would minimize the distance to Taisia. Of course, Glenice assumed the enemy contemplated they would check there. They would likely have picked a suboptimal staging ground to muster their armies. A second scan of the area revealed nothing.

  "Let's fly lower," she said.

  "Are you sure? They might have anti-aircraft cannons hidden in the jungle. If they have Shadow Hunters..."

  "I don't think they will reveal themselves unless they are absolutely certain of a clean shot," Glenice said. "It's worth the risk."

  They descended almost to the level of the ocean. From that angle Glenice scanned the small valleys and river deltas. As they passed to the west of the headland Glenice pointed the telescope down one valley and she felt something. An intuition nagging at her. An obvious wrongness.

  "Do you see that?" she asked.

  Algot Gunn turned around. She pointed.

  "I don't see anything," he said.

  It took her a moment to collect her thoughts. The valley seemed too shallow. As if, for tens of thousands of years, the valley got less rain than the other valleys nearby. But the foliage was the same. Verdant jungle, if not somewhat less dense than the other valleys. The muddy, rust-colored ground was clearly visible between the trees. Upon closer inspection, the tops of the trees seemed to sway more than normal. Then it clicked.

  "Found them," she said. "They must be there."

  "Where?"

  "In that valley. They built a false ground above the valley floor. A huge cloth canopy the same color as the ground itself. That's why we couldn't see it from overhead. They hoisted some of the trees up through holes in the canopy, which is why they seem to sway more in the wind."

  "Let me see," Algot said.

  She turned the knobs to release the huge telescope from the mount and she passed it forward to Algot. The man levered it against the edge of the forward cabin to peer out at the enemy homeland.

  "You're right."

  "But where are the ships?" Glenice asked.

  The man pointed the telescope down toward the water. Then he passed it back to her.

  "We should go back and report what we discovered," he said. "The navy will send a wet submarine into the river to see what they're doing in that valley."