She was a hundred yards long, with a maximum beam of about fifteen. In water, she displaced about a thousand tons and could sail at the better part of ten knots. In the air, she ran on three primary lift crystals and could fly at just over eleven knots. Four Dwarven built fire-cannon and two Aeradi crystal-bows were mounted on each broadside, providing a defense that would be ably assisted in real conflict by the sixty marines the trader carried. In many respects she was identical to the hundreds of ships that sailed out of Newport or any other Sky City. Of course, none of the other ships had a septon aboard as a marine sergeant. However, as Erik had discovered, several ships had septi – the sept heirs – aboard in similar positions, and most carried sept of some standing. As Hiri had said, it was a tradition among the Aeradi. In the week since he'd decided to leave Newport, Erik had managed to acquire a simple but extremely well-made set of light chain mail – made of sky steel, so its strength defied its looks –and an Aeradi bow to go with his father's sword.
