*The content of this entry remains largely unaltered from the previous version; although some minor changes have been made.*
April 1272:
The small unnamed airship drifted toward the illuminated towers of Bridgetown. But nobody could see the airship from down below, for its beacons were unlit. That was the intent. Looking out the window of this ghostly aircraft was Clarissa, who was carrying a small backpack. She was ready for the assignment.
"The irony," she thought to herself with a chuckle. They were to moor secretly on the South Tower where the Bridgetown College was, and meet...
"What's his name again?" asked Julina, her new recruit.
"Darryl," replied Clarissa calmly. "One of the Professors, apparently."
Julina pulled out a small orange envelope and was about to ask a question, but Clarissa cut in. "You will be told to open it when the time comes."
"Very well," replied Julina, obediently placing the envelope back in her pocket.
Before long, the vessel arrived at the moor. The engines powered down to a quiet idle as they slid into the moor locks. Far below sat the "city on the bridge," with its multiple highways spanning across the river marking the border between the provinces of Combria and Ereautea. It was essential that they remained undetected. The door opened to the flat roof outside. They were a thousand feet up and the wind was blowing. But that did not phase the three emerging figures who came out to greet them. It was obvious that the person in the center was Darryl.
Clarissa stepped off the airship, where she came face-to-face with Darryl and said in a flat tone, "I was told that there wouldn't be others."
Explosions rang out as Clarissa and Darryl shot spellfire discharges at each other. Clarissa, from her experience, had been quick enough to detect Darryl's left hand reaching for his right wrist; and she was quick enough to respond. She dodged his first blow and struck him square in the chest, knocking him down. Clarissa went to deliver the final blow, only for Darryl to knock her down briefly with a discharge of his own. She quickly leapt to her feet again, but it was enough time for Darryl and his two accomplices to leap over her and onto the airship. The door slammed shut and the airship took off with Julina still aboard. Clarissa was left behind.
The spellfire duel was enough to set off the fire alarms in the College, so Clarissa's presence was known. There was only one way to escape: by leaping off the Tower.
She did so, and within a second, she pulled a cord attached to her left arm. A parachute opened from her backpack so that she could float down slowly but stealthily to the street below. When she landed, she looked up and saw the airship fly off to the North. She pulled down her right sleeve and activated her wrist radio.
"Julina! Are you there? Can you hear me?"
A moment of garbled ruckus was the response on the other side before Julina's voice responded, "We're headed North."
"Perfect," said Clarissa. "See if you can commandeer the thing and find a place to land." Clarissa found black taxi cab parked along the curb and used a Stun Spell to bust the window open. She unlocked the door, got inside, turned on the engine with a spellfire discharge, and took off North across the Bridge.
"Got them knocked out," said Julina over the wrist radio. Despite being a new recruit, Julina was well-versed in spellfire combat, herself. It was a prerequisite for their line of work.
"Good," replied Clarissa. "Now land the thing!"
Clarissa finally spotted the airship, barely visible in the dark sky but she had a keen eye. And she saw that it was further ahead than expected. So she raced ahead in the stolen car. Before long, two police cars appeared behind her with flashing lights.
"Give me a landmark, Julina," said Clarissa over the wrist radio.
"I'm trying!" came the response. "Headed West now. The waterway feeding into the River. There's a small town after that."
"Stockton," said Clarissa to herself. She jerked the car to the left onto the first roadway headed West: Local Route 26.
"There's a field lining the side of that waterway after the town," she said to Julina. "Put it down there."
"I'll try!"
And now Clarissa was getting to a threshold. She had to ditch the car and lose sight of the police cars closing in on her. She had a plan, though.
She jerked the car violently to the right, up a small drive that suddenly appeared. She lost control and crashed into a tree, but saved herself with a flash of a Shield Spell that she activated in the moment. She bailed out of the car and took off into the woods while the officers chased after her with flashlights and guns drawn. Clarissa cast a Concealment Spell and, at the same time, activated a spellcrafter pendant that she had in one of her many pockets. This caused the vision of an aggressive wysp to appear and emit light while making a thundering scream only described in fantasy literature. The officers were phased for a second, but then Clarissa activated another one of the pendant's scripts, casting a vision of herself taking off in the opposite direction. It was enough to lure them away.
And so she continued toward the landing site.
"I've done it," said Julina over the wrist radio. "I've landed in the field."
"Perfect," said Clarissa. "Start throwing them in the river!"
"Are you kidding me!?"
"I will arrange to have them picked up. Trust me!"
"What-"
"Just do it!"
Clarissa finally caught up to the field. The skid marks digging deep into the moist soil led up to the airship, which had its nose planted into the ground. It was a smooth landing but she was sure that somebody heard. A figure, who Clarissa realized to be Julina, was hauling the crates and throwing them into the river as planned. She caught up to her but then suddenly turned and hurled a spellfire discharge toward Darryl, who had awoken and tried to fight back.
"Masks, Julina!" she said, suddenly donning hers as she discharged a Smoke-Screen Spell, which she knew would put Darryl and the accomplices into a six-hour coma and give them short-term memory loss.
Clarissa and Julina returned back to the downed vessel and continued to haul the remainder of the crates, throwing them into the waterway a few yards away. After they finished, Clarissa led Julina Westward. "There's an outpost for us," she said.
They briefly stopped and took off their masks. Julina reached into her pocket and pulled out a little cloth sack. She opened it slightly to show a glimpse of the tradestones inside. "A little sample of the cargo I threw in the river."
Clarissa hesitated for a second. They were Deliverers; they were not supposed to touch the cargo at all. It was...
"Against the Code, I know," said Julina, placing the sack in Clarissa's hand. "But it wasn't a certain 'Darryl' was it? And all that cargo isn't really missed by its original owner either."
"How do you-?"
To her shock, Julina pulled out the orange envelope, which had been torn open, and was now holding the Key that had been inside.
"Our hijackers tried to pry this from me."
Clarissa's eyes narrowed in suspicion toward her new recruit. "Are you sure about that?"
Julina sighed as she looked down for a second and then back up. "I am telling the truth, but you don't have to believe me. Yet, it doesn't matter, does it? Now I know."
Clarissa handed back the little sack. "Here's the deal," she said quietly. "Keep the sample. And keep it a secret, even from our Agent. Consider this 'mission accomplished'...on your part, that is. But wait by the phone. You will be hearing back in due time."
"Very well," replied Julina, after a moment of hesitation.
* * *
Eleven nights later, Julina received her call. She had been dispatched to Elsa Island.