Read Skyjackers: Episode 1: A Proper Nuisance (Skyjackers: Season One) for Free Online

her face in her hands. “Oh, Poleax. What have I done?”
    Poleax stopped his hacking and turned around. “What do you
mean? This is what you wanted, isn’t it?”
    The porters, who were actually the crew of the Swan’s
Sorrow , stood patiently as the wooden chests and cat cages they were carrying
wore deep gouges into their backs and fingers.
    “Oh, I just don’t know anymore,” Lily said. “I thought life
away from home would be so adventurous… but it’s really a slog, isn’t it? This
place is hotter and stickier than I would’ve imagined. I knew we should’ve
taken the ship.”
    “Everyone would’ve seen us leaving. Or at least realized we
were gone much sooner.”
    Lily’s bottom lip began to quiver. Tears welled in her eyes.
“It isn’t easy running away, is it?”
    “Here, have a hanky,” said Poleax. The yellowed strip of
fabric he drew from his overcoat was damp in some places and crusty in others.
    Lily held it like a dead mouse. She liked Poleax, but the
thought of having him to take care of her instead of Mum and Dad made her want
to cry all the more. She found what appeared to be a clean section of fabric
and dabbed at the corners of her eyes.
    “We can head back if you like,” said Poleax.
    She brightened. “Are you sure? It wouldn’t be too much
trouble?”
    “We haven’t gone very far, you know. I can still see the roof
of the house through the trees there.”
    Lily clapped her hands and hopped to her feet. “Oh yes,
let’s.”
    Poleax raised a hand and signaled. “You heard the lady. Round
about.”
    The porters sighed with relief as they turned back toward the
mansion.
    ***
    Benedict and Junior were still in the mansion’s study,
hashing out the details of the family’s next crime spree. It was not going
well.
    “Because horses can’t swim, that’s why,” Caine shouted. “You
know the old saying: you can lead a horse to water, but don’t let it sink? That
applies to this situation implicitly.”
    Junior was confused. “Is that really how it goes?”
    “The Marquis of Bixbury values his prized studs above all
else in the world. We’ll win a higher ransom for his stable than we would for
his wife and children. He’ll never see us coming, and he’ll pay dearly for it.”
    “I don’t want them on the Stratustarian ,” Junior said.
“Transporting a herd of horses on an airship strikes me as treacherous.”
    “It isn’t a herd. It’s a small stable of purebred stallions.
They’ll be no trouble at all. Anyway, you haven’t a choice in the matter.”
    “But they’ll… empty their bowels… everywhere.”
    “Not unlike that misfit crew of yours on an average day.
You’ve got the biggest ship in the fleet for a reason, son. It holds the most
excrement.”
    “What do horses eat, Father?”
    “How should I know? Do I look like a peasant farmer to you?”
    “Well, I’m going to find out and not give it to them.”
    “Those animals had better survive, Junior. If you bring home
a stable of dead horses, every tiger in the jungle will be on us by teatime.”
    “What are we going to feed these horses if the Marquis
doesn’t pay off right away?”
    “We’ve plenty of bananas. I’m sure they’ll get on.”
    Junior shrugged. He liked bananas. He didn’t see why horses
shouldn’t like them too.
    Benedict heard a noise and perked his ear to listen. “What’s
that racket out of doors? Sounds like a ship’s coming in.”
    Junior and his father left the study, hands to hilts, ready
for anything.
    ***
    Jonathan, separated from his ship and abandoned by his
crew, figured his best bet was to hike to the closest village and ask for help.
He knocked on the first door he came to, a big crooked house that looked like
it might fall over at any moment. A bald man with a crown of gray hair and a
pair of magnifying lenses perched on his forehead opened the door. Gilbert Hill
was startled to see Jonathan, decked out in the red-and-tan uniform of a sky
marshal captain, and at