Architects of Ether

by Ryan Muree

  It wasn’t more than five minutes before Mack had joined them in the kitchen, closing the bathroom door behind him.

  “As soon as she’s finished,” Jahree said, “we can discuss those dashboards. I think scribing is the answer.”

  Mack pointed at him. “I don’t care if you all risk your lives, but you better believe I care that you’re willing to risk hers.”

  “I don’t want her to risk her life either,” Jahree cut. “But we have no choice.”

  “I can’t work with the dashboards.” Emeryss chewed the inside of her lip and exchanged a quick glance with Jahree. “I used to be a Scribe.”

  Mack shrugged. “So?”

  “A Scribe,” Jahree said. “A Scribe can read any grimoire and pull down ether from the realm to make new sigils.”

  Mack’s eyes shifted as he focused on both of them. “Then, you fix it.”

  “I can’t. I used to be a Scribe. But I—uh—was able to change that, and I became a Caster. I can’t Scribe anymore, or I would try to fix it.”

  “You could train Clove,” Jahree whispered to himself.

  Mack crossed his arms, his expression more intense.

  “Maybe. She’s already an Ingineer,” Emeryss said.

  “What’s so special about the dashboards?” Mack asked.

  “The dashboards aren’t only there for power like all other ether-tech. They had a sigil on them like they were grimoires, and the sigil was for teleporting.” Emeryss dropped her chin.

  Mack straightened. His eyes glazed over as if the cogs in his mind were slowly spinning into place around the consequences of something like that. “They’re going to teleport the ship into Revel,” he muttered.

  “If she disconnects it, your Ingineers will probably just connect the dashboards back,” Emeryss continued.

  “What if…” Jahree tapped his chin. “You used to fix sigils as you went along, right?”

  “Fix them?”

  “Often, they weren’t complete, right?” Jahree asked. “You used to sit down and work forward and backward and fill in sigils as the shapes came to you.”

  She nodded. “Right.”

  “What if Clove changes the sigil?” he asked. “You could train her to do that.”

  Change the sigil. That wasn’t a terrible idea. “But if she changes the sigil completely, they’ll probably recognize it and fix it. We need to change it just a little, so they won’t notice.”

  Mack scoffed. “Gotta love using the Ingini as a test subject for this grand idea that sounds impossible.”

  Emeryss turned to him. “I already said that if I could do it, I would.”

  The door to the bathroom opened, and Clove stepped out into her old jumper, still blood-stained and dirty. Her face and nails were cleaner, though, and her hair was pulled back in a wet ponytail.

  “You would do what?” she asked.

  “I’d risk my life so that you wouldn’t have to,” Emeryss said.

  And she’d meant it. She didn’t like the idea of them being in danger. She was the one unafraid of death and the otherworld. She was the one who held up the shield to block the cannon from Fort Damned.

  Mack looked back at Clove, his eyes softening. Jahree’s expression was hollow.

  Clove tossed her towel on the cluttered counter. “Mack, I didn’t want to get involved in the first place, but I did because I’d get cash and speed up this stupid war. Now that I know how deep it goes, how it affects my life and everyone else’s here without them even knowing, how life is a million times harder because of people like Kimpert and their traitor in Revel—I want to end it. I want it over. Life should not be this hard for anyone.”

  Mack softened.

  Jahree took a deep breath. “Clove, they said there were three dashboards, right? Why? How many do your ships normally have?”

  “None,” she said. “Well, the smaller ships like Pigyll and stuff, they don’t need them. Bigger ships do though. A good family friend of mine, Scuffle, used to be a mechanic in the UA. He said the bigger ones had one, maybe two.”

  “So, having three isn’t too crazy, then, for that size of ship,” Emeryss said.

  Jahree rested against the rusted wall beside him.

  “If anyone would know about how the ship works with all those dashboards, it’d be Scuffle. Or Lark?” Clove looked at Mack.

  He shook his head. “My brother won’t breathe a word, not even to me. I wasn’t even supposed to know the name of the ship, let alone that it existed. I think Scuffle is the safest route to go.”

  Clove nodded. “He’d probably be able to tell us its weak points or what the dashboards are connected to. But so, what? Are we going to let your fearless leader blow it up?”

  “Actually, we’re thinking maybe we could change the sigil on the dashboard,” Emeryss said.

  Clove’s eyebrows narrowed at her. “How?”

  “You’d change the sigil, and I’d train you how.”

  Clove shook her head, eyebrows lifted. “I nearly went blind trying to read the damned thing.”

  “I can help you with that, too.”

  “She’d have to go back into where she was just kidnapped,” Mack said. “That’s crazy.”

  Clove shrugged. “Actually, that’s the least of my worries. It was just one of Trent’s lackeys scoping the hangar out to steal crates of grimoires. It’s the army of UA between here and those panels that worry me the most.”

  “But if Adalai can get you past them…”

  Clove groaned at her. “The last thing I want to do is go with her again. I mean, I’m willing to do whatever to stop this thing, but I’m not happy about doing it with Adalai.”

  Emeryss grinned. “I’m willing to share whatever knowledge I have to get you to scribe or ingineer.”

  Clove looked at Mack. “We don’t have much time. They already had the fuel lines hooked up. If I can’t do it in that short amount of time, then it’s over, and there’s nothing we can do.”

  Jahree inhaled. “Then, let’s get to this Scuffle person. Where is he?”

  Clove jutted her thumb back over her shoulder. “Northwest of here. He’s in Barren Ranch all by himself. We won’t have to be so careful or sneaky there.”

  “He doesn’t hate Revelians?” Emeryss asked.

  “Oh no, he hates Revelians with a passion,” Clove laughed. “He’s gruff, a little rude, and too honest. But I love him like an uncle. He’s sort of looked out for Cayn and I ever since we were young. He’ll help because he hates wars a little more than he hates you.”

  At this point, what did they have to lose?

  Chapter 25

  Ethrecity — Ingini

  Adalai was perched at the top of a small cloudscraper, squinting across the expanse of the city. Her eyes scanned for anything that might look like a communication tower.

  She’d been convinced Clove’s friend was a disaster waiting to happen, but when he’d accidentally admitted to there being a huge comms tower in Ethrecity, Adalai had decided that having him around was useful after all. That’s when she informed Clove he was in their custody now.

  That stupid jelt got all mad, saying she’d protect him, she’d look out for him, and if anything happened to him, she’d get in the way.

  Clove was just lucky the plan to change the sigil wasn’t half bad.

  Adalai had made her way to the top of the building to get the lay of the city a little better. It was somewhat helpful.

  All they had to do was find this tower, figure out how to tap into it, get Sonora to send a signal back to Aurelis, and boom, Revel was warned. If stopping the Goliath fell through, they had prepared Revel.

  I think I’ve got it, came Sonora’s voice through her mind. And I’ve got news.

  She, Mykel, Urla, and Vaughn were somewhere below her hidden in the streets, working to figure out how to use the Ingini’s communication devices.

  Adalai had searched a few areas within walking distance already and still hadn’t seen a tower.

  “If
you were a communication tower that could stretch across the country, where would you be?”

  High, Sonora said. Somewhere high.

  “I’m already at the top of a building.”

  This thing works off waves like I do. All the buildings on the ground-level would break it apart and shorten how far it reaches. It’d need to be above all that.

  “Like the top of a cloudscraper?” Adalai looked up at the top of the nearby buildings. She’d been looking for a separate tower all this time, but it probably made sense to attach it to something that was already incredibly tall in such a cramped space.

  Sure enough, a cloudscraper, a few squares away from the building she was standing on, had a large metal rod on top of it with blinking lights. She looked at the area around her. None of the other buildings had rods that tall. That had to be it.

  “I think I found it. I’m coming down.”

  She leaped from the edge of the building, free-falling forty or fifty stories until she was within Blinking distance from the ground. She closed her eyes, Blinked into the darkness of the ethereal realm, and popped out the other side and on her feet safely.

  “I hate it when she does that,” Vaughn muttered.

  “You shouldn’t be so obvious, Adalai,” Urla warned.

  They all wore dirty jumpers stained in black to simulate ethereal leaks. They had dark brown shawls, too, to hide their hair and faces, but it looked ridiculous and was completely unnecessary.

  “Where did those shawls come from?”

  Mykel shrugged at her. “They completed the look. Plus no one can be alerted to our Revelian appearance.”

  “Ingini and Revelians look the same, and if you hadn’t noticed, no one here gives a hopper-shit who anyone else is or what they’re doing. It’s actually the only redeemable quality about this place.”

  Sonora held out an opened device they’d managed to purchase in a back-alley. “Listen to this.” She twisted a knob a few times quickly, then slowed until static from the device turned to words. “We’ve picked up on a base nearby.”

  “Fort… Prepped… Four days—…”

  “Was that four days?” Adalai asked. “Four days for what?”

  Vaughn nodded at the device. “Earlier, it was talking about a big launch, too, and talking about Sufford. They’re telling their people to get organized.”

  Sonora shrugged. “This thing is very interesting. It’s sort of like a little sound Caster or a chain of sound Casters.”

  “But that said four days?” Adalai pressed.

  Urla held her hand up. “We’re not sure they’re related.”

  Sonora could get all sorts of excited over Ingini-tech if she wanted, but the fact remained that if they only had four days before the launching of the Goliath, they were screwed. It’d take a day just for Emeryss and the others to reach Clove’s pilot friend. Who knew how long it would take to figure out how Clove could stop it, and then there was a day back. They didn’t have enough time for this.

  “I think I found the tower. We need to get up there and use it to warn Revel before it’s too late.” Adalai peered around the corner of a building and down the street.

  “Where?” Sonora asked.

  “A few streets over.”

  “I’m not running across an Ingini city along with you,” Urla said.

  “Are you sure?” Vaughn asked her.

  She leaned on her cane. “I may not want to retire, but I sure as shit don’t want to sneak into an Ingini building for some tower at the top. I’ll wait for you here.”

  “Adalai.” Sonora grabbed her sleeve to hold her back. “I barely understand how this little thing works, let alone a giant tower.”

  “There can’t be much difference despite size,” Vaughn said.

  Adalai had heard them, but there wasn’t time. If Urla wanted to stay, fine, but they needed to get going. She moved to the next street, and Mykel, Sonora, and Vaughn followed.

  “Adalai!” Mykel called to her. “This isn’t a good idea.”

  The mass of people wading up the streets and pushing their ways to their jobs said otherwise. It was the perfect cover.

  She pushed past person after person, darted across streets like she’d seen other Ingini do, dodging carriages with minimal honking. It wasn’t that different from Aurelis. Maybe a little taller and busier, but the elements were the same.

  Adalai, I’d need to tune it to Revel and to Aurelis, Sonora said.

  “Fine, then that’s what we do.” She wanted to contact Orr directly, but Aurelis would have to do.

  If I contact someone on the border—

  They struggled to keep up with her as she darted across more streets. She glanced up, keeping the cloudscraper with the tower on top in view. They were nearly there.

  “The border isn’t good enough. They’re already too wounded and worried about watching the wall. This is our only shot.”

  And she wasn’t going to risk Aurelis or the king on them not taking this chance while they were there. Orr needed to know. They couldn’t have another catastrophe on their hands like in Marana, and she was determined to be at the front of it. He’d see then the error of casting aside the Zephyrs. And her.

  She was valuable to the RCA. She made things happen. He would see that.

  She rounded two corners at the base of the building until they were on its alley-side with a back-exit door and no windows. “This is how we get inside.”

  She Dispersed under the door, found an empty, stairwell leading to the top, some smaller windows for lighting the stairwell, and that was it. She floated back under and out.

  “It’s clear. Ready?”

  They’d jumped at her sudden return.

  “No, Adalai,” Sonora said. Mykel and Vaughn nodded.

  “This is our only chance at saving Revel, to becoming Zephyrs again,” she told them.

  Why was everything a fight with them? Why had they signed up to come if they were going to fight every little risk they had to make?

  “You’re going to let a little worry about how to get a communication tower working stand in our way?” she asked. “Of the destruction of our country?”

  “You’re being a little dramatic, Adalai,” Mykel said.

  Vaughn shrugged. “Emeryss and Clove will figure out what they’re going to do with the dashboard. Even if it gets through and the ship teleports to Aurelis, we have RCA to fight them there.”

  “You don’t get it, do you?” Adalai snapped. “We might be the only thing standing between saving Revel’s ass and total ruin.”

  “But should we even warn them, Adalai?” Sonora breathed.

  Shock struck her. What was Sonora saying?

  “Just let them be destroyed?” Adalai barked. “Are you insane?”

  “We need to trust Emeryss and Clove,” Mykel said. “That’s what she’s saying and warning them might make things worse.”

  She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “What is wrong with you?”

  “What if they already know, Adalai?” Sonora asked. “The Revelian traitor—the Silverfox person—is in it with the Ingini. They have deals going on—”

  “Behind the king’s back! Behind the people’s back!”

  “What if alerting them of when the ship leaves causes them to retaliate sooner or gets them to send forces in?” Sonora urged. “What if they attack just because the airship exists?”

  “We want that,” Adalai blurted. “That’s exactly what we want.”

  “We don’t want more innocent lives lost—”

  “Innocent?” They’d acted like she was losing her mind, but it wasn’t her going crazy. There was no way they were considering the Ingini innocent in all of this. “Innocent? Innocent for that laser and those ether-grenades that took your husband or Tully? That innocent?”

  “Civilians are innocent, yes—”

  “You think if we warn them, it might tip off Silverfox, and the RCA will just kill civilians?” Adalai wanted to scream. “The RCA don’t attack civilian
s like the Ingini do! The Ingini attacked Marana, we attacked Fort Damned—a UA base, military, not civilians.”

  “If Emeryss and Clove’s plan works,” Mykel said, “if they destroy the ship from this side, then Aurelis won’t be destroyed and there’s no need for retaliating against Ingini. We’re supposed to be working toward ending the war, remember?”

  She shook her head. “And if their plan fails, Aurelis is doomed. You will all be traitors. You’ll wear that weight on your shoulders forever… all those lives lost for nothing. I’m pulling rank here. We have to warn them. This isn’t up for debate.”

  “Adalai—” Sonora started, but Adalai grabbed them together in a forced group hug and Blinked them all to the other side of the door.

  They gasped and coughed, and she turned for the stairs.

  “Adalai, this could be very bad—”

  “I said we’re warning them!” Adalai spun halfway up the first set of stairs. “No more questions. That is my order.”

  “We’re technically not in the RCA…” Vaughn started.

  She peered down at him from the second flight of stairs. “Fine. Walk out that door right now and make your own damn way back to Revel. I’m here to do a job. If you don’t want to do what I command, you’re no longer part of the group.”

  She stormed up another flight.

  The gall. The audacity. Why did they even come? She couldn’t believe the words coming out of their lazy tart-holes. All of them. Basically traitors in all this. They were lucky she was technically AWOL, too, or she’d report them all.

  She’d love to live in a dreamland, where everything goes perfectly, and Clove and Emeryss save the day, and no Revelian lives are lost. But that wasn’t reality. The best course of action was to plan for the worst, and Revel wouldn’t attack just because the ship existed.

  If their plan to change the sigil worked, then as soon as the ship failed to reach Aurelis or leave Ingini airspace, the Revelians would know not to attack.

  Having a back-up plan was saving lives, not destroying more of what mattered.