"Special Postal" by Alexey Pekhov, summary Automatic translate

Elven courier Las and his orc partner, Og, delivering secret mail and forbidden artifacts on the 2026 "Swallow" dart-craft, come under fire from a dwarven convoy near Turtle Island. They manage to evade the heavy "Hammers of the Deep" combat vehicles, causing one of their pursuers to crash in a dive. However, the "Swallow" is seriously damaged, and the partners make an emergency belly-landing in Dock Fif of the Lair, a clandestine base in San Vincente. The owner of the docks, the leprechaun Tull, agrees to repair the dart-craft on credit, but reduces the couriers’ pay for future trips. Las hands over the smuggled Lysney stones to Tull and collects the gold he owes.

Returning home through the slums at night, an elf stumbles upon bandits from the mainland in a vacant lot, trying to snatch a girl from a palm tree. Intervening in the fight, Las uses a pistol loaded with magical firebees and the forbidden "Reflective Wall" shield. He destroys the attackers, armed with rare "Rods of Light" blades. A Watch patrol arrives and takes the dead men’s wallets, while Las rescues the girl, claiming she’s an acquaintance. The girl turns out to be a dwarf named Ghira. In the morning, she tidies up his home and offers him eight hundred louis d’or in the form of diamond earrings for his help in escaping the island.

The conversation is interrupted by an attack by mercenaries searching for the dwarf. Las and Ghira jump out the window and find themselves in the garden of the homeowner, the draegai Riolk. When their pursuers burst into the courtyard, Riolka transforms into a terrifying hunchback and animates acacia trees, which mercilessly destroy eight bandits and bury their bodies. The frightened companions leave. In a seaside tavern, Ghira confesses that she is the sole survivor of the powerful Gorkh clan, exterminated on the Continent by the hostile Carkh clan for an ancient relic. A bounty has been placed on her head. Ghira promises the couriers five thousand louis d’ors if they take her to safety.

On the way to Og, Las and the dwarf are detained by corrupt patrolmen. Under troll escort, they are taken to an abandoned airstrip on the edge of the jungle. Ghira manages to escape into the undergrowth, while Las is locked in a hut where the battered Og is already found. The interrogation is conducted by Tony Loop, the right-hand man of the infamous pirate Black Aga. The pirates find a dwarven firebee stuck in the hull of the Swallow and realize that the couriers have seen the runaway Karkh galleon, the Freken Um-Gorh, which is carrying the Gorkh treasure. Las gives Tony false coordinates for the convoy.

Ghira unexpectedly returns in a stolen three-seater "Widow" strechoplane and blows up the prison with firebees. The couriers flee under the wail of sirens. Las sets course for Silk Island, owned by the sea-faring Crashsh people, hoping to wait out the storm there. Three pirate "Months" overtake them in the air. Taking advantage of the "Widow" at high altitudes, where enemy demons quickly exhaust themselves, Las and Og shoot down two of the strechoplanes and sink the third into the sea. On Silk Island, the fugitives are met by a combat escort of Crashsh on flying rays.

On the shore, it turns out that Black Ag and Tony Loop are already here, allied with the Krashshi and a dwarf from the Lorkh clan. The pirates take the couriers’ weapons. It turns out that the Gorkh relic — the "Mountain Flower" from the Colorless List — can only be controlled by the blood of the Speakers, that is, Ghira herself. Without it, no one can control the artifact, which creates stable portals to the Upside Down to trap the most powerful demons. Ghira agrees to reveal the location of the treasure in the Misty Pleiades on the condition that Lasu and Ogu are spared. She drips blood onto the map, and it reveals the precise coordinates of the hiding Carkh galleon.

The entire company sets out on the pirate flagship, the Playful Zephyr. Lasu and Og are offered a deal: destroy a Karkhov schooner heading to the galleon’s aid in exchange for their freedom. The couriers depart on the Widow, with a carnivorous creature of the Upside Down, the Gnawer, attached to its hull. During a fierce air battle amid the topaz explosions of the Griffin’s Tears, the pirates lose almost all of their vehicles. Lasu dives almost vertically, and Og drops the Gnawer onto the enemy schooner, sinking it. The elf leaps into the gunner’s cockpit and shoots down the pursuing pirate Rhinos, determined to eliminate any witnesses.

Returning to their base in the Misty Pleiades, the couriers witness the aftermath of a terrible massacre: the Karkhov frigate is wrecked, hundreds of corpses lie everywhere, and the surviving pirates are unloading gold from the undamaged galleon "Fröken Um-Gorkh." A chest containing the "Mountain Flower" is retrieved from the hold. Black Ag, having taken the artifact, kills Tony Loop, and Og, using a hidden leap spell, breaks the pirate’s neck. A general brawl ensues.

Ghira breaks through to the relic and activates it with her blood. A magical ruby circle appears around the artifact, containing only the elf, the orc, and the dwarf herself. All living beings outside the circle, including the traitor Lorkh and the remaining pirates, are sucked into the opening portal directly into the Upside Down. Complete silence descends on the island. The galleon and its countless riches remain in the trio’s possession. Ghira, having regained consciousness, proposes that Las and Og divide the treasure into three equal parts. The companions fill the cabin with gold and precious stones, planning to buy out Tull’s Lair and start a profitable demon trading business on Turtle Island. The Widow takes off and sets course for home.