Dragonseers and Bloodlines: The Steampunk Fantasy Adventure Continues (Secicao Blight Book 2)

by Chris Behrsin

  We'd entered a particularly thick area of cloud cover, reducing visibility for anything but a few metres. Usually, we'd be able to see up to around a hundred yards or so, but there were days that the clouds became especially thick.

  Then we saw them. Three dragons lying on the ground, their riders strewed across the dusty earth, not far away from the dragons. Bodies of both humans and dragons mutilated as if their bones had broken when they crashed into the ground. Stout brown thorns were plunged into them as if feeding off them and their clothing and grey scales had become stained with coagulated blood.

  "Brace yourself for landing," I called back to Faso and Wiggea. And I sang out to the other twenty Greys to instruct them to do the same. It had been difficult at first to enunciate words with a clip on my nose and my teeth clenched around a bit, but I now had the skill down to an art.

  Soon after a shot came from the dense cloud cover. The bullet clinked off Velos' armour sending out a spark.

  "Dragonheats," Faso shouted. "We've got company." His voice was muffled through his mask.

  My heart jumped in my chest. In all honesty, I hadn't expected for the automatons to still be there. It was a good thing we'd assembled an equally large force. The air became filled with a brief silence as I thought about what to do next. Then, another shot sounded, but it didn’t make contact with anything.

  I looked over my shoulder to see Wiggea with his rifle poised, watching the horizon. He was one of the best shots in Gerhaun’s forces and there was a good chance he’d shoot down any threat before the Gatling guns on Velos’ armour latched onto it.

  I didn't hesitate to change my song with harsh notes that instructed the dragons to circle around and gain height. I held my breath, removed the bit from my mouth for a brief moment.

  “Augment,” I shouted. I took a swig of secicao oil and glanced over my shoulder quickly to check Wiggea and Faso were doing the same.

  The world ghosted green and, in the distance, I could make out the outlines of the automatons on the ground. I recognised them from the history textbooks. Their spindly chicken legs had been perfectly engineered to balance two machine guns, and a thick brass plate formed their armoured heads. They had bright spots at their eyes, now green but what would have been red if not for my augmented vision.

  There were about ten of them, a fair match for twenty dragons. I pulled Velos upwards and continued my song to choreograph our side of the battle. These songs came naturally to me as I'd known them since birth and had always heard them in my dreams.

  But this song didn't stop one of the dragons roaring to the sky in pain against the bullet that had lanced his shoulder. My heart sank as I watched him spear to the floor, the rider sending shots from his rifle at the automatons on his way down.

  We were close enough to the automatons now that I probably didn't need augmented sight to see them. But the secicao still gave me augmented strength and reflexes, enough to duck out of the way of close flying bullets. Meanwhile, the armour pumped secicao through Velos, giving him extra agility to help avoid injury.

  The war-automatons charged forwards in a single line, strafing the sky with bullets. Clearly, they had just arrived and hadn't had time to enter a more defensive formation. That gave us an opportunity. I pushed down on Velos' steering fin and swerved him in a sharp curve, so we approached the line from the automaton’s backhand side. Following that, the Gatling guns on the Velos’ flanks surged into action, causing the armour to vibrate underfoot. The shots sent up a plume of dust around the automatons. It formed such a dense cover that it was hard to see if they were hit. That was until we passed the end of the line and saw the dust settle a bit. Two of the automatons had collapsed onto the floor, but the rest were standing strong and glowing green in my augmented field of view.

  "Dragonheats, someone's reinforced their armour," Faso called. "And they're using my secicao technology." Faso had initially developed the technology to power automatons with secicao, and so he complained every time he saw the king had stolen his ideas.

  I clenched my teeth. I wasn’t so worried about that. Whoever had placed these automatons had known what they were doing. And they'd come prepared to shoot us down. Which meant that there would likely be more automatons close by.

  And my suspicions were confirmed, when I peered through the clouds to see a swarm of flying automatons speeding towards us, all of them spherical and darting around each other like wasps. "Hummingbirds," I said.

  "Dragonheats," Faso said. "Retreat, damn it!"

  But, instead, I'd already turned Velos towards the swarm, and I sang a song to instruct the following greys to follow the leader.

  "No," I muttered under my breath. "We're going in." Whoever was orchestrating this wanted us to flee so the Hummingbirds could follow on our tail and gun us down during retreat. A better strategy seemed to fly out of range of the war automatons and lure the Hummingbirds into the sky where we'd be on an even keel.

  I pulled up on Velos' steering fin and we soared upwards. On the way, I felt a tug on my heartstrings, as another three dragons got shot down by the war automatons, taking our force down to fifteen. One rider tumbled off his dragon on the way down, screaming out as he fell towards the ground.

  The secicao clouds extended high above The Southlands. So, it was impossible to get above them. But further up, the air would still thin, and the rotary blades on the Hummingbirds shouldn’t, in theory, be able to carry the automatons high enough. And, as expected, they still followed us. Once you'd encountered enough swarms of Hummingbirds, you kind of knew how they'd been programmed to behave.

  "Pontopa," Faso called out. "What are you doing? The secicao power will allow them to get higher than us."

  I looked down at the green cloud of secicao gas pulsing around them. "If we fled, they'd outrun us on retreat," I pointed out.

  "Not with my armour."

  "And what about the other dragons?"

  "You need to think about our value here. You're a dragonseer and I'm the best scientist Gerhaun has. The other dragons and men are expendable."

  But I wasn't going to let that idiot sway me. Faso was useful for working the dragon armour, but he was also an annoying backseat driver. So, I ignored his protests and charged at the Hummingbirds, letting out a song to instruct the other dragons to keep distance. The Greys had no armour and so had no chance up close against the Hummingbirds. But their riders could still snipe the Hummingbirds down from a distance.

  Faso screamed out something as we cut through the clouds of Hummingbirds and then Velos' Gatling guns sprayed bullets through the swarm as barrelled right through it. The Hummingbirds reacted by trying to close in, shooting out sparks from central guns. But they only connected with the armour, which wasn't enough to shock Velos out of the sky.

  And soon we were clear of the Hummingbirds, and a wave of trepidation washed over me. Something was wrong. This had been too easy, and the Hummingbirds hadn’t followed us. They weren’t trying hard enough and clearly they weren't powered up to full. But why?

  Soon enough, an airship came into sight, providing an answer. It had no flag, so it was impossible to see who was orchestrating this assault. Alsie Fioreletta perhaps, the dragonwoman? Maybe she was here working for Cini, or even worse the mythical Empress Finesia who apparently inhabited her mind. The airship balloon had no markings on it, and instead took on a cloudy brown colour, which I could see more clearly now the effects of the secicao oil were fading.

  A man stood upon the deck of the airship. A pirate, it seemed, in no particular uniform like the rest of his crew. Like the others on his airship, he sported a gas mask. The leader also wore a white shirt that blew in the wind, loose baggy trousers, and long grey hair.

  I pushed down on Velos’ steering fin to still him into a hover. Behind us, the Hummingbirds had also stopped in position, as if to wait to see what would happen next. I sang a song to warn the dragon riders to hold fire. There was a system — I told the dragons something, and they picked up my comm
ands with their acute hearing, and then they made gestures with their heads and wings which told their riders what to do next.

  "Pontopa Wells," the man called out. He had quite a distinguished accent for a pirate. "You are to surrender and to follow us, and I'll let the rest of the forces live."

  I looked back at Faso in astonishment. "He says he'll let them live," I said. "After what happened to the rest of the Greys down there, I highly doubt that."

  Faso's face had lost all its colour and his bottom lip was trembling. "Hadn't you better see what he wants?"

  I sighed. "Remind me next time we go on one of these excursions to bring a loudspeaker."

  "I’ll bear that in mind… If we live through the end of this."

  I pushed down on Velos' steering fin to edge him forwards, and he let off a roar to tell me that he didn't want to go. So I sang a song of harsh notes as a rebuke. Velos shuddered a little and the armour shook underfoot. Since I'd started being a dragonseer, he'd become a lot more stubborn. Almost, as if he couldn't trust me to make decisions anymore.

  "What are you doing Pontopa?" Faso asked.

  "Just talking to Velos. He's not in the best of moods. But you have a seatbelt, you're quite safe."

  "I mean are you going to talk to the captain?"

  I nodded, then I sang some more notes, this time to calm down Velos' anxiety. He roared again, then pushed forward. A couple of Gatling guns placed on the side of the airship tracked us as we approached. Meanwhile, the pirate lifted the loudspeaker and spoke through the mouthpiece. His voice was kind of tinny through his mask, but it was clear enough to understand what he was saying. "I warn you, try anything and we'll shoot you down."

  I wasn't going to try carrying my voice across several hundred yards. Humans didn't have the acute hearing that dragons had. So, instead, I raised my hands in surrender. I wasn't going to give up, of course. But I didn't want to get shot out of the sky.

  Then, I turned Velos to the right a little, so we could approach the airship from the side. I took hold of a pistol from my belt and kept it low, in case I'd have to use it. It wouldn't have been much use though, the pirate now had three crew members on board at that point, in various baggy attire, and all with Pattersoni rifles trained right on me.

  I halted Velos at a point several hundred yards from the airship's deck. And, before we levelled out, I took another swig from my hipflask flaring up my abilities.

  "Who are you, what do you want and where's Taka?" I asked. Straight to the point.

  Though the reflection on his mask concealed a lot of it, I could see the pirate had a layer of full growth stubble on his face. "I've been ordered not to give you any information until you cooperate with us."

  Absolutely useless. "Then why should we trust you? You've killed without warning. Kidnapped a dragonseer child. And as soon as you take us, there's nothing to stop you shooting our men and dragons out of the sky."

  The man scratched at his neck and turned his gaze down towards the ground a moment where our men and dragons lay dead. "All I can give you is my word," the man said again looking at me. "I'm a man of great respect in my land and I won't go against my promises."

  "Your land which is?"

  "Lady Wells, I'm not going to give you information yet, as I've said. You must come with us and see for yourselves."

  I turned to Faso. Before only his lips were shaking. But now his hands were gripped right on the supports in front of his seat, the white of his knuckles showing. "What choice do we have? We have three rifles pointed at us for wellies sake."

  I gestured over at the Gatling guns with my eyes, suggesting that Faso might be able to pump some more secicao through Velos’ armour so it can gun the airship down.

  But he wasn’t having any of it. "Are you crazy? These people don't look like idiots." Faso turned to the airship captain and addressed him himself. "Don't worry, we're not going to show any aggression. Lady Wells here will cooperate. Won't you, Pontopa?"

  Before I could answer, a roar came from somewhere behind the airship, loud as thunder. I couldn't see what was happening beyond the clouds, but more men ran up on deck and pointed out at something in the distance. They readied their rifles.

  Looks like you could do with some help, Dragonseer Wells, a voice came in my head. It sounded dour, lacking emotion…

  Charth, I said. What are you doing here?

  The guards turned towards Charth and let off some shots. But it wouldn’t have done any good even if they hit him, as excepting the weak spot at his throat, Charth was immortal once in dragon form.

  His blackened scaly body speared through the sky and right into the captain. He swept the man away with his claws and disappeared into the clouds. Looks like we now have a prisoner, he said in the collective unconscious.

  Back on the airship deck, the man with the smartest looking attire shouted out something to his comrades. More men came over to his side of the airship and we had more rifles pointed at us.

  "You're not going to shoot us," I said, noticing the uncertainty in the senior guard's eyes. "Because we now have your man of high esteem."

  "Release him," the pirate guard said. "That's an order."

  I couldn't help but laugh. "You don't give orders to the other side," I said. I kept the channel open in my mind as I spoke, so at least Charth could hear my thoughts as they formed themselves.

  The guard's eyebrows furrowed. Clearly, he didn't like taking no for an answer. "You will obey, or you will die, Miss Wells."

  "Conversely, I think you would rather not have your captain lose his life by tumbling out of our friend’s claws. It seems quite fitting that we’ll just fly away, with your leader as a prisoner."

  "You're a fool. Our Hummingbirds will take you down before you reach your base." He had a point; it would be no good if only Charth returned with the prisoner alone.

  Ah, Charth said. I almost forgot. Brace yourself Pontopa, I've been practising.

  And before I had a chance to ask what he was talking about, a nauseating ear-splitting scream came in my ears, numbing my senses and blocking off the channel from Charth. I clutched my hands to my temples and tried to shake off the pain. I couldn't see the Hummingbirds behind me, but I knew from experience that the scream was enough to disable them.

  Despite the fact my head was spinning, I tried to keep my composure. Even though, all I wanted to do right now was throw up. "We'll be going now," I said.

  "Pontopa, what are you doing?" Faso's voice sounded muffled behind me. He had no connection to the collective unconscious, and so he had no way of knowing what Charth had done.

  I pushed down on Velos' steering fin, to turn him so sharply that the guards' shots missed their target. "Gatling guns, Faso," I said. "We're getting out of here."

  "But the Hummingbirds."

  "They're disabled. Now, do as I say."

  I didn't turn around to check that he followed my orders. But then I didn’t need to. Soon enough, the Gatling guns came to life, laying into the bottom of the gondola as we turned away from it.

  My head was still spinning so much that I couldn't form a channel to Charth to ask what his plans were. I just hoped that he would deliver the prisoner to Fortress Gerhaun as otherwise, we'd have no way of knowing where Taka had gone.

  We approached a wall of disabled Hummingbirds, all of them lifeless. One by one, they fell out of the sky as we passed through. My senses had begun to return a little then, enough to sing a song and order the remaining dragons to retreat.

  We had some work to do at Fortress Gerhaun, and I knew already it was going to be a busy day.

  PART II

  General Sako

  “I said it once and I’ll say it again. Blunders and dragonheats!”

  General Orgati Sako

  CHAPTER 4

  TWO MEN WERE WAITING FOR us in Velos' stable when we arrived back at Fortress Gerhaun. The first was my father, pacing around anxiously. The other was Sukina's father, General Sako. A trail of green smoke rose up from
the secicao pipe hanging from his lips. He had the same almond upturned eyes as his daughter had complimented by a bushy handlebar moustache and round, ruddy face.

  Both men stood by the stable door, and I touched Velos down a good twenty or so feet away from them. Velos lowered his head so I could dismount as quickly as possible via his neck. General Sako approached me as soon as my feet touched the ground.

  "Blunders and dragonheats," he said. "What happened to my granddaughter Pontopa? I thought you were meant to be looking after her?" He still hadn't quite accepted the fact that Taka was now a male.

  "I'm sorry, General," I said. "He ran away without me knowing about it."

  Faso had dismounted a little slower. He approached the general, keeping a wise distance from him. "We couldn't find him," he said.

  General Sako turned on him and pointed a finger. "You, young man, should have been keeping an eye on him. You're his father, for wellies sake."

  "I'm sorry I had work to do. Creating technology that saves lives. You know how important that is, right?"

  General Sako's nostrils flared and I decided to step in before he thumped Faso. "General there's no time. A prisoner… Did Charth come here?"

  "Yes… I ordered to have him shot down, and so he flew off pretty quickly."

  I opened my mouth wide. "Shot?” Really, shooting Charth would do no good when he was in dragon form unless someone happened to hit him in the throat. But really, it was the intention behind it. “General, Charth had a valuable prisoner. He’s the only lead we have for where Taka might have been taken."

  And I had so many other questions for the dragonman as well. Like how he'd known to coincidentally turn up just in the nick of time. And why could he, all of a sudden, use Alsie and Taka's trademarked scream.

  Now, General Sako's face was turning a shade of red. "Of course I wanted him bloody well shot down for wellies sake. If it weren't for him and his infernal father, Colas, none of this would have happened. King Cini would never have stolen Taka off us, and so Sukina would still be alive."