New Cali

by Erik Schubach

  Kristof offered, “Perhaps they have, so this cache was no longer needed?”

  Again she shook her head. “Then they would have removed the stones. No something is wrong. In the hundreds of years since the Cristea first arrived, we've only built out about a quarter of the way. They couldn't have done so much in so little time.”

  Then she covered her mouth. “Is this my fault? When I didn't return as scheduled? Did they determine it was not worth the risk of us being exposed? Have they abandoned the calling?”

  I hated seeing the self recrimination on her face and stood tall. “Well then there is even more reason for this expedition, to show them that you did not perish.” The girls were hugging her and I looked to the southeast where I could feel Sarafine somewhere, no doubt noting the location on the detailed maps she created on our journeys.

  Emily stood tall then, raising her chin. “Of course, you're right.” Then she strode over to the marker stones with purpose and grabbed one of the two smaller ones and grunted and squeaked and heaved and it rolled halfway over.

  Celeste chuckled and hip bumped her out of the way and hefted a rock up to chest level then heaved and tossed it eight or nine feet away with a growl. Then tossed the second one the other way. Emily dusted her hands together, looking pleased, as if she had just accomplished the task herself, “There.”

  Ok I may have snorted.

  Then she turned put her hand out and Donovan stepped to her side and she placed that hand on his arm and we started back to the airships to check on their progress. We hadn't gone five steps when I heard a loud thud behind us and looked back to see Verna dusting her hands together, a smug look on her face and the larger rock was no longer where it had been sitting.

  Celeste said tongue in cheek, “Showoff brute.”

  “Wimp.”

  “Moose.”

  “Mouse.”

  Misty marched past saying, “Children, please,” as she caught up with her grandmother.

  We all shared a good chuckle, and I hesitated and looked around for Shan, but found her in her favorite observation spot since she first came to be with us, sitting up on Tennison's shoulder. She says she can see the entire world from way up there. I tapped his gut as he caught up and we all took our time returning to the vessels.

  The big guy whispered to me as we walked, “I don't need to see the future like you to see that something's not right here.”

  I just nodded as we walked.

  If only I could make sense of what I was seeing in my visions. Sometimes they painted a whole story, sometimes they were fragmented like this because they were trying to tell me too much at one time. But surely, if we could avoid the Kantu's fate, then all would be well, since I did see New Cali in the other fragments, so we do arrive there.

  When we got to the Highland, Lord Lowery met us at the ramp. He was shaking his head. “Lord Bexington and the crews of the Kantu and the Highland went over every square inch of the Kantu and found nothing. Whatever you saw, it couldn't be sabotage. It was almost frightening how much your brainy Templar knew of the Kantu's systems even though it was designed and built in another realm.”

  I smiled, pride in Bex in my tone when I said, “He's the smartest man I know.”

  The man nodded then looked to Emily, as she was the lead in this endeavor. It was sort of nice not being in charge, and I could relax.

  He prompted, “We're burning daylight, we should be underway soon, did you find what you needed here?”

  She shook her head sadly then said, “No, but you're right, we should be on our way posthaste.”

  The man nodded grimly, sensing all was not right, then started barking orders and everyone headed back to board their vessels. Once our bay door was pulled up into place, then we watched as first one then the other escort ships took to the air and gave sufficient room for the Highland.

  One of the crew looked at Shanny when the Captain started shouting out orders, he patted a valve and Shan grinned like a loon as she dashed over to his side to help the man with his duties to launch the armored vessel like a slowly waking, lumbering beast.

  I'd have to have the man check his pockets later, the crew hadn't been warned about her propensity for relieving people of their belongings.

  Before long we were at cruising speed. It must be killing Bex that his precious Outrider that had a cruising speed of over forty knots, and flank speed of over fifty was forced to dally. The cruising speed of the Highland, in favorable winds, was more like thirty five knots.

  The next three days went the same, we'd stop at a supply cache each night and one at noon for lunch. Each cache was larger as Emily had said, but were in just as bad of repair as the first. The last one at least still had water because a large water storage tank, possibly two hundred gallons, still had viable timbers so had not leaked. The water though, was stagnant as the lid had lost its seal long ago.

  We would throw aside the rock markers before we left each. And by we, I mean Verna and Tennison as they tried to outdo each other each time. Knights were like overgrown children, always trying to outdo each other.

  The temperatures seemed to climb by the hour, and the thermometers were showing temperatures of around one hundred. My family had donned our hunting cloaks, the others thought us daft, but the same spells that imbued our cloaks to keep us warm in the mountains, also kept us cool in this sweltering heat.

  Sara would join us for meals before bleeding back to give the girls the illusion of privacy. Now if I could only teach Jezelle that. And Lowery was shocked at the detail of the hand drawn maps Sarafine was drawing of our traverse of the uninhabitable lands. He tried to convince her to allow his crew to copy them, but the death glare she gave him had him changing his mind.

  We had only been airborne an hour when the Captain smiled and bellowed, “Habitable land on the horizon!” We all ran to the front of the cabin to peer through the steel flaps. Though the bulk of the Kantu and Outrider blocked most of the forward view, we could see a huge imposing slab of mountain that rose above the horizon like a wall that seemed at least as tall as Father Stone. It had a crack, that had to be a mile to two miles wide at least, in the middle of it.

  I could see that from ground level at the right time of day, the relentless heat of direct exposure of Father Sol would shine through that gap like a burning eye.

  That wasn't what held us captivated. Instead, it was the thin ribbon of green on the limb of the horizon that was growing larger by the minute, with trees visible on the fringe. Celeste called out, “Distance?”

  As Lowery called out, “At this altitude, just over fifty miles,” the world exploded.

  I was back panting and gasping as Celeste called out, “Distance?” I was already in motion diving at the Captain, wrenching the wheel from his grasp and spinning it frantically to avoid what could only have been a canon blast from an Avalon tank vehicle's main long gun which had torn through the gondola just moments in the future. People screaming and falling to their deaths as the cabin was shredded, the floor falling away.

  This time, we took the blast at an angle, so once the shell tore through one of the motors to port, it was enough for the armor to deflect the blast, though a panel of armor spun away from the vessel.

  Celeste and Sara were diving to protect the children as my guards slammed me to the floor, placing their bodies over mine. But before they did, I had watched in horror, my heart stopping, as the blast meant for us was deflected directly into the gondola of the unarmored Kantu, shearing off a propeller which set off a chain of explosions as the blades also sliced through the gondola.

  I was frozen in horror as the captain shouted orders, spinning the ship's wheel desperately as the flaming hulk of the Kantu brushed past us, tearing off our damaged motor as it plummeted toward the ground. By the gods, it was me. It was my actions in saving us that had killed the crew of the Kantu. I couldn't breathe.

  But then we heard a soft boom somewhere behind us, and someo
ne shouting “Incoming!” And the Highland shook, metal shearing as we took another glancing shot. Sparks were flying from consoles that were torn loose in the cabin.

  I roared and shoved the bodies off of me, where the strength came from I do not know, but I was consumed by rage as the ship shook again and I heard air rushing in the bay behind us. Before I even started moving, I was already ripping open the cabin door, consumed by a black energy that begged to be used.

  Celeste was calling, “Laney, wait!”

  I could vaguely hear the captain shouting out for evasive action as I pulled myself ahead in time again, feeling the rush of power as I was standing at the gaping hole where the bay door used to be before I had even entered the bay. I was time slipping, and part of me realized that it was a bad thing. That meant I was losing control to that sickly tempting darkness that lived deep inside me. It would leave me exhausted if I let it consume me, but somebody had just made me kill our allies!

  I just blinked at the scene before me. About a mile back was an airship that dwarfed the Highland, below its smaller gondola was mounted the main long gun of a tank vehicle. The vessel had Avalonian markings that were painted over with a Solomon Crest that had a red slash through it.

  Celeste said from beside me in a disbelieving voice, over the rushing wind, as everyone was evacuating to the more heavily fortified main cabin, “Aelwen!?”

  The rogue duchess had somehow followed us without detection from Sparo, and opened fire once New Cali was in sight. There was a puff of smoke from the gun, and I could taste the metal projectile hurtling toward us. I roared out in challenge, swatting the air and my magics, amber tainted with coils of black, slapped away the incoming round.

  I reached out then growled in frustration when I could barely taste the metals in the attacking vessel, she was out of my range. I swayed as the ship swung first to starboard, then to port. We were losing altitude slowly and I could feel the metal of the ship as it called out in pain. We had lost two motors.

  Celeste was anchoring me as I stood in the opening, but my power was holding my feet to the metal decking. I realized she was calling back to the Captain, the movements of Aelwen's stolen airship while the crew back here were putting out small fires.

  I slapped away another shell, and the Captain was yelling back, “We're losing power, I think we can get to New Cali, can you do something about them?”

  Celeste had her face next to my ear whispering, “Laney, come back, I need you. The girls need you.”

  The girls? I blinked and the blackness consuming me bled away. The girls needed me. I swayed, feeling so very weak suddenly. I nodded and called back, “Donovan! We need cover!”

  He was by my side and I staggered as I batted away a third shot. All we could do was stall, and hope we could get to cover in New Cali before the rogue duchess overtook us. I could see how quickly she was gaining, we weren't going to make it.

  Just as I felt the Prime Techromancer of Wexbury take the chains off of his magic, the feeling overwhelming me and almost suffocating me with the sheer amount of it, a shadow passed between us and Aelwen as thunderclouds and fog started billowing down from the skies.

  Celeste cried out, “The Outrider!”

  What was Bex doing? The fool was interposing the Outrider between us, giving us a chance to flee.

  We watched as the fog started to thicken while the Outrider shook violently, the gondola virtually splitting in half as it veered to port. I was screaming, “No!” as I saw another plume from the enemy vessel and one of the gondola halves shredded and caught fire.

  Donovan was straining, he was covering four or five square miles with fog but it wasn't dense enough. It was the most amazing show of power I have ever witnessed. He called out, “Misty!”

  And my daughter was there, they gripped hands and just as I saw the gondola of the Outrider detach and plummet to the ground below, taking my friends, my family, with it, I screamed out one last time focusing everything I had as the gun swiveled to point our way. I channeled all the magic I had left and crushed the barrel with my mind. They fired and the gun exploded, shrapnel tearing through their own vessel.

  I was seeing spots, having overextended myself, slipping into unconsciousness into Celeste's arms as the air was sucked from my lungs when the Prime Techromancer's power was combined with Misty's and the sky all around us exploded into fog as the water was sapped from the air by a magic wave that could have decimated an entire army.

  My last thought was that of anguish. Bex... Verna, Kristof, and Tennison... dead. I wanted to wake from this nightmare. But darkness claimed me, and my other nightmares rose to torment me. The faces of all the people I have killed for the sake of peace. Peace always had a cost, but this? This was too much.

  Chapter 9 – Waking Nightmare

  When I awoke, I was in a bed with a straw mattress. Shan was saying from my side. “Mom's back.” I blinked and looked around to see my girls both sitting next to me. I was in some sort of stone cottage that was similar to the one I grew up in except this one was larger since it had more than one room. I was in a little sleep chamber slightly larger than the one in my Mountain Gypsy wagon back home.

  Donovan's tall frame blocked the light from the doorway a moment later. I blurted out, “Bex and the others?”

  He made a calming gesture as he moved in, patting the air with his hand as he shook his head. The look of sorrow on my face had me praying to Father Stone that he would not answer. “All on the escort ships were lost. On the Highland we lost Lord Harry from Treth and two others injured. We crash landed in the forest nearby and the airship is a total loss.”

  Then he added needlessly, “It was Duchess Aelwen.”

  I nodded through tears as I just felt numb. Shouldn't I be raging? Feeling something? I knew this was shock, but it upset me that I wasn't screaming over the senseless loss of my friends and family. But I knew why I didn't, because if I did, I would be useless to all the eyes peering in through the doorway, and if I lost it, I wouldn't be able to stop.

  Bex? Verna? Kristof and Tennison? All dead because of me, just like Bowyn. Then my blood chilled. By the grace of Mother Luna, what was I going to tell Brenda and the kids? What would I tell Karen? I sat up straight and rasped out, “Sara!” Oh gods, she'd never forgive me.

  A hoarse voice said, “I'm here, Great Mother.”

  I looked to the corner where she sat in the shadows, standing vigil over her charges even now. I stretched a hand out and she reached out to take it. I sobbed out, “Tennision... oh gods, Sara, I'm sorry,” before I could plug the leak in the wall of numbness which threatened to let all the emotion burst through and consume me.

  She shook her head. “This is not your doing... Laney.” Her eyes were red and puffy, she had been crying. I pulled her down to sit on the edge of the bed and I hugged her as I fought off another sob. The girls joined in, comforting the woman I saw as my sister in all but blood.

  Then she released me and I straightened, knowing I needed to show strength in an adverse situation. I said toward Captain Lowrey who I saw lurking at the doorway by my guards, “Report?” Then my eyes narrowed as I looked around and tasted the world around me for magics, finding the one most familiar missing. “Where's Celeste? How long have I been out?”

  How much magic had I expended? I knew time slipping like that with that dark core of magic that tried to claim me was taxing, and I had done it twice, and then to crush the gun barrel at three quarters of a mile like that... Mother Udele has warned me that doing too much and pushing your magics beyond your limit can take a physical toll, and exhaustion was just one of the side effects.

  As Lowrey moved in, the others took that as an indication to give us some privacy.

  Emily called in, “Girls? I could use a hand sorting the supplies out here.”

  Misty gave me a look of genuine understanding then kissed my forehead, Shanny hugged me then chased after her big sis. Their eyes were red and puffy too. With a ti
lt of her head at me, Sarafine followed them.

  The Captain looked back and reached out to accept a candle from someone then closed the door to sit in the little wicker chair by the bed. “It's been about two hours since we were ambushed. We couldn't maintain altitude but we needed cover, so Templar Celeste ordered us to make for New Cali before we lost all of our altitude. There was a hole in the lift envelope somewhere and we were pumping in all our helium reserves to control our descent.”

  Shaking his head he continued, “It took over an hour of coaxing, but we finally made it and we tried for the grain field by this farmhouse, but didn't reach it, we got tangled up in the trees of the forest and the ship was torn apart. But the main cabin is reinforced to protect the King, and Prime Techromancer Donovan, even after that display in the air, somehow blunted the fall when the remains of the gondola plummeted to the forest floor. And that daughter of yours helped him, with vines and bushes that seemed to churn up from under the very earth itself.”

  His voice was full of awe and respect when he spoke of what Donovan and Misty did.

  Then he straightened his tunic and took a deep breath, “We salvaged the supplies we could and made our way to the farmhouse. The farmers aren't here right now, but Templar Celeste loaded a wagon and some mules she found at the stable with supplies and water, and she and two volunteers set off toward the crash sites fifty miles into the uninhabitable lands.”

  He didn't say it, but we both knew, it was a recovery mission, not a rescue mission. “Celeste, like me, would not be able to live with ourselves if we just left the bodies of those we loved and those of our allies out there.”