Chapter 141: Nor The Arrow For Its Swiftness

### Story Date

Monday, 8 August, AD 1043/6551 ε.Κ/28 Dhu l-Hijja 434 AH/29 Qiao-Yue Huangyou Era Year 1/29 Heyannir ÅrO -1/29 Av AM 4803

## Story Chronology

### Previous Chapter

Love Not The Bright Sword For Its Sharpness

## Appearances

### Locations

Loktak Lake
Seine River
London
Rouen
Berk
Faroe Islands

*“Captain, according to the wireless range finder, there is no one else in a position to stop them aside from us.”*

***\*recording indicates seven seconds of silence aside from normal bridge noises\****

*“Then it’s up to us.”*

*“But we’re just—”*

*“In the right place at the right time, XO Jorgenson.”*

***\*PA System Announcement Whistle\****

*“This is the captain speaking. Battle stations. This is not a drill. Battle stations. I repeat, all hands to battle stations. Prepare for combat. We are about to engage the enemy fleet. Repeat, this is not a drill.”*

***\*battle stations klaxon is heard in background\****

*“Comms, Priority message to High Command. Message reads: Zeta. Zeta. Zeta. Enemy airships, numbering eighteen, on approach from North by Northeast over the Baltic, altitude three kilometers, four hundred kilometers south of Stockholm, two hundred kilometers east of Copenhagen. The* Kvasir *is the only ship currently in range. Optical examination reveals they are carrying city-buster ordnance. They are heading on a course for Copenhagen, Lubeck, or Hamburg. We will buy what time we can. Requesting immediate reinforcements. Zeta. Zeta. Zeta. End message.”*

*“Signal sent, Captain Haddock.”*

*“Thank you, Mr. Irving. Helm, get us up above the cloud deck. Drop all ballast and prepare for maximum altitude. All non-essential personnel are to be evacuated. Include a copy of the bridge record in their pods.”*

*“Aye, Ma’am.”*

*“Wings, prepare to deploy our dragons. We’re going to need screening elements and spotters.”*

*“Yes, Captain.”*

*“Comms, instruct Engineer Mac Phearson to take the safety governors off the focusing array and deploy all of the remaining elements of the distributed array. And prepare their focal elements for long-range collimation. He’ll know what I mean.”*

*“Aye aye, Ma’am.”*

***\*recording indicates thirty more seconds of bridge conversations as orders are followed\****

*“What are you thinking, Ma’am?”*

*“I’m thinking that our little airship is the only thing standing between those bombs and cities of several million people, XO.”*

*“That’s true. But when I said the other day that I was hoping to live up to my family name, this* wasn’t *what I had in mind.”*

*“Nor me, but while we can make our choices, we don’t get to pick what decisions we’re faced with, do we?”*

*“No. We don’t. Ma’am, are you planning on going out there personally?”*

***\*nine more seconds of background conversations\****

*“I suppose that I should. Send word to have Inquisitive saddled, would you?”*

*“Aye, Ma’am. See you on the other side.”*

*“On the ground or in Valhalla, Snitlout. It has been an honor working with you.”*

*—Bridge Records of Imperial Science Ship* Kvasir*, Captain Dame Astrid Haddock VII commanding, prior to attempted sneak attack on Imperial territory.*

*All essential hands and wings of the Kvasir were lost, but brought down sixteen times their tonnage in enemy airships and delayed the enemy forces from their objectives by twelve hours, allowing for the massing of a defensive force and the activation of air defenses in targeted cities. Captain Haddock and Inquisitive (NF-00005871b) did significant damage to the enemy propulsion systems and gas envelopes after the Kvasir was downed, and they, and their entire crew, were granted honors—the majority of them posthumous—for their actions.*

## Major Events

* Mala joins Mulan's expedition to help them deal with the Pechenegs.
* Spitelout and his forces continue to hold the bridges of the Seine River against Henry's forces.
* Ruffnut and her hospital in London try to deal with all the injured soldiers and refugees.
* In a lull in battle, Spitelout tells William and Mjolnir about the Aesir.
* Stoick reviews a proposal from Fishswill to incentivise paying taxes by tying it to a modified sumptus laws where people can only be lavish if they show they have paid taxes.
* Stoick, Esther, Dovid and Nittai discuss where to settle all the Jewish refugees, with Stoick offering a whole city of their own.
* Hiccup and his retinue arrive at the Faroe Islands after leaving Iceland.
* Esther reports to Stoick on the latest discussions the Jews have and getting a city of their own is something a major proportion wants.
* On the final day of the First Battle of the Seine River, Spitelout and Kingstail fall in battle, buying time for the last of the fleeing Jewish refugees to escape Henry's massacres.

## Trivia

During the feast in Rouen, one of the men jokes that Spitelout should avoid breaking the bones in his goat stew, a reference to the myth of Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, Thor's magical goats who could be slaughtered, eaten, and revived.

## Characters

### Humans

* Fa Mulan
* Mala
* Acharya (first appearance)
* Spitelout Clodgallsson
* Ruffnut Thicknutsdóttir
* Mwenda
* Sölrun
* Tuffnut Thicknutsson
* Magnus the Good
* William of Normandy
* Stoick the Vast
* Esther bat Rivkah clan Haddock
* Dovid ben Eliezer
* Nittai ben Bethuel
* Hiccup clan Haddock

### Dragons

* Kingstail (last appearance)
* Swift
* Mjolnir
* Toothless

## Analysis

### Epigraph Tie-In

* The epigraph details a Jorgenson dying in battle to protect their nation. The chapter shows Spitelout falling in battle to protect fleeing Jewish refugees.