Contents
Chapter 8
Overview
The team sails a shabby fishing boat to intercept the massive Dandolo galleon. Using Berenice’s fog rigs and an imprinter, they stealthily latch onto the hull. Sancia plans to pause the galleon’s lexicon with the imperiat to prevent catastrophic disassembly. Sancia and Gregor scale the hull and infiltrate through a hatch.
Summary
At the piers under darkening skies, Gregor presents a decrepit fishing boat as their only fast option. The group confirms their plan: Sancia will use the imperiat to pause the galleon’s lexicon without collapsing its construction scrivings, giving time to free slaves and scuttle the ship. Berenice unveils repurposed Frizetti fog rigs keyed to Dandolo languages to mask their approach.
They set out to sea. Berenice scrives speed and agility strings onto the fishing boat, while Sancia battles fear of open water and Berenice calmly manages her own inability to swim. After nightfall, Gregor scouts; an immense silhouette resolves into a colossal merchant galleon, confirming their target and activating the Dandolo-sympathetic sail scrivings.
Gregor leads them ahead of the galleon and Berenice seeds dozens of fog rigs, raising a hot, dense bank to slow and blind the larger ship. Using Sancia’s scrived sight to track the galleon’s lexicon glow, Gregor matches speed and position within the fog despite dangerous wake that threatens to capsize them.
As the towering hull looms, Berenice deploys the “imprinter,” first fixing a slug to their boat, then firing a paired anchoring slug into the galleon. The scrivings yank the vessels together without flipping them, adhering their boat like a remora to the hull. The team arms themselves and reviews contingencies: air-sailing rigs if the foundry lexicon remains active, shallops if not.
Wearing adhesion plates, Sancia and Gregor scale the slick hull through the fog. Sancia locates a simple hatch lock via scrived sight, defeats it while dangling one-handed over the churning sea, and they slip inside, setting the infiltration in motion.
Who Appears
- Sancia GradoCarries the imperiat, senses scrivings, guides approach in fog, opens the galleon’s hatch after scaling the hull.
- Gregor DandoloPilots the fishing boat, orchestrates the approach, matches speed in fog, leads the hull climb and infiltration.
- Berenice GrimaldiDevises fog rigs and the imprinter; anchors the fishing boat to the galleon; scrives speed-agility strings.
- Orso IgnacioEndures seasickness, tracks time, supports the plan to pause the lexicon and sink the galleon afterward.