Chapter 302: Stink
Irwin leaned to the side as the old, completely metal-flying ship angled through a corridor at breakneck speed. The straps of the metal cabled harness dug into his shoulders and chest, but he wasn't even going to contemplate removing them. At these speeds, he was going to get hurled clear out.
Zender, sitting in front of him, in the spot beside the steering wheel, raised his arms and let out a whoop.
Irwin almost joined him.
"He really knows how to fly," he said, turning to Hind beside him.
"He is crazy about airship races," Hind said, lowering her head a bit. "He even won the burrow race two times in a row."
"And that's with this old, slow tub," Helm shouted without looking back. "The only reason I didn't win the next was that they started allowing faster, non-hauler ships!"
Irwin had no idea what that meant and didn't bother asking. Instead, he glanced at the ship as they shot through a narrow, almost pitch-black corridor.
It was almost entirely made of Firesteel, making it incredibly expensive on any other world and portal harbor he'd been, but it made sense. With the intense and still climbing heat within the burrows -which seemed to be a massive, chaotic maze of tunnels and different-sized caves filled with lava- any other metal would likely be prone to wear and tear. Not the Firesteel, rune-covered sixteen-foot-long ship they were on now. With wide panels to the side, Helm had already glided along the side of two lava streams without any noticeable damage.
"We are going to head to Tang's place," he said. "Normally, this is a trip of two days, but we are taking a shortcut through the sulfur caverns. It will be a few hours down, but we do have to pass through a corridor filled with a condensation layer of sulphuric acid, causing the occasional corrosive rain. I'll take you all into my soulscape for the duration. I've got a card that will protect me from the gasses and the rains."
"Sulphuric acid?" Irwin said, frowning.
"Don't worry, kid. Those gasses won't do you any harm, and in this heat, you will heal faster than any corrosion, if it can even affect you," Ambraz said from his shoulder.
"Oh?" Helm said, casting a surprised look back. "You've got a card for that? You'd make a great burrow miner!"