Then, just as I began to return to my senses, time seemed to slow, and I sensed danger approaching. A humming came from the left and a cold wind washed over us. At the same time, something shifted in the collective unconscious. I turned over my shoulders, to see a huge red dirigible emerge from the murk.
King Cini III was on deck in his splendid white furs, looking out with his hands behind his back. Two other men were there that I recognized – Francoiso with his hard-cheeked good looks and Charth with that dour face. There were also around a dozen guards and a slender tall woman with dark black hair standing on top of the wooden gondola. As the airship got closer, I saw that I recognized her too. Alsie Fioreletta, the king’s famous consort.
The king raised a megaphone. “Welcome to Slaro, Miss Sako. I see you’ve brought Miss Wells and Mr Gordoni with you. Excellent work.”
Then came Francoiso’s voice in the collective unconscious. “Hello, darling. When I said soon, I had no idea it would be this soon.”
“What do you want with us?” I telepathed back.
“Never mind that for now, dear. Just follow the king’s orders and come down with us for a safe landing. Fortunately, my brother and I have had a little word with King Cini, and he now agrees you and Miss Sako are much too valuable to die. So, you’ll be pleased to hear, you’ll be treated well.”
Well, I guess this would screw up our plans to enter the palace by tram and tunnel. I looked behind me. Sukina gave me a nod. “Probably not the best idea to try anything this time,” she said in the collective unconscious. We could again speak here, due to the proximity of the Lamford Brothers.
Behind Sukina, Faso looked terrified, his face blanched and his hands tightly clutching the handlebars in front of us.
“We’re going in,” I said out loud.
“Dragonheats, I’m glad to hear that,” Faso shouted back. “I thought you were going to try fighting them again.”
I pushed down on Velos’ steering fin to level him out with the airships. He lifted his head and let out a roar, which caused a guard on deck Cini’s airship to raise a rifle. Immediately, I started to sing a song to tell Velos to behave and that calmed him a little.
Then, we allowed ourselves to be escorted down to ground.
Cini’s palace had its own dedicated landing pad. His father had built a structure on what must have been thousands of pillars, just a little taller than a man. Its roof was a flat platform that could hold a hundred or so of the king’s massive dirigibles.
I had to land Velos there, amidst the nauseating smell of coal and oil. I could feel he hated it too, but rather than roaring out a complaint, he simply buried his head into his front legs and whimpered like a dog.
“We’ll get out of this one alive,” I said. “I promise.” Velos didn’t speak my language, but he would understand the emotions behind it. That seemed enough to placate him a little.
Cini’s troops buoyed the airship so they could swing the ramp right down at our feet. It thudded against the ground just short of our noses, letting a gust of wind brush over us. I looked up to see two snipers with their rifles trained on us, golden flasks dangling at their hips.
Three guards came down the ramp and each of they took positions an arm’s breadth away, their Pattersoni rifles pointed right at our chests. Then the king walked haughtily down the ramp, not lowering his head to look at us once.
He stopped and his gaze fell on Sukina. “So, we fail to take you at Fraw. My cousins fail to capture you in the Southlands,” he looked over his shoulder at the dragonmen. “And then you come walking right into my arms. How kind of you, Miss Sako…”
Ratter had perched himself right on Faso’s shoulder, its back hunched up like a hissing cat. Cini glanced at it with derision then summoned one of his troops forward from behind him. “Confiscate that thing. Don’t think, Mr Gordoni, you’re going to try any of the same tricks you tried at Fraw.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Faso said. He tapped Ratter on the back, twice this time, and the automaton flopped down on his shoulder. A guard moved forward and took the device back to Cini, holding it by its tail.
“Not just him, you fool, take Gordoni too. He’s broken the law by using the king’s technology against him.”
“The king’s technology, I—”
“We commissioned you to create these automatons, didn’t we?”
“Yes, but—”
Before he could say another word, another of Cini’s guards whacked him on the back of the head with the butt of a rifle, almost knocking Faso to the floor. “I remind, you Mr Gordoni,” King Cini said. “That your voice isn’t as melodious as you might think.”
“I—”
“Another word out of you and I might decide it better to shoot. Now lock him up.” He waved Faso off to the cells.
As all this was going on, the two dragonmen and Alsie Fioreletta climbed down the ladder at the back of the airship. They walked towards a tall building with a high tower. Halfway up that, four further towers extruded at obtuse angles, kind of looking like hands of a clock. Each of these had a different colour – red, blue, yellow and green, with the central tower being an intense alabaster that contrasted starkly against the brownish-grey smog.
The guards walked Faso off in another direction, and he also had his eyes locked on the two men and the one woman, although he didn’t dare say anything.
“Don’t worry, darling,” Francoiso said in my mind just as he’d disappeared out of view. “No one’s intending to kill you this time. I don’t know what Cini’s going to do with the inventor, though. Although, I kind of have a feeling you’d rather he’d never entered your life in the first place. You, my dear, are destined for much greater men.” Actually, to be honest, I was kind of concerned what would happen to Faso at this point. Despite him and I getting off on the wrong foot, I’d started to warm to the guy.
“Francoiso, stop fooling around,” Charth said again in the collective unconscious.
“Allow me,” this time it was a woman’s voice, and it wasn’t Sukina. A shrill shriek followed. It was as if someone had shot a spike right through my ear drum. I jerked my hand to my ear, but the pain quickly subsided. I looked at Sukina.
“What was that?” I tried telepathing to her. But she wasn’t there.
I felt a sudden emptiness inside me. My connection to Velos, to Sukina, to the connective unconscious severed. Then, normality returned, but I could no longer hear the dragonmen in my mind.
Cini had been watching us all this time with curiosity. “You dragonseers have always had these strange moments,” he said. “I remember them from my visits to see my father’s four prisoners when I was a child.”
I guessed he was talking about the ‘Famous Four’. Cini II had abandoned four terrorists in an old water tower, without food or drink until they eventually died. This had apparently been all over the magazines at the time, as well as the fact that Cini II went on excursions with his son to visit them. The old king had wanted to show the king-to-be how hard decisions needed to be made as a leader, as well as how ‘vile’ these people were. Just then, King Cini III had just claimed…
“Yes,” Sukina said in the collective unconscious. It appeared she had managed to restore the channel after Alsie’s brief interruption. “The Famous Four were dragonseers.” I looked at Sukina in astonishment. Then, I blinked away the expression, realizing Cini was observing us with a hand on his chin.
“Oh, don’t worry,” he said. “I don’t plan any executions here and now. The Lamford Brothers and my beloved Alsie have helped me realize how valuable you dragonseers could be to my dear country. So, I want to offer you a compromise. A place in court in return for your services. Of course, I don’t expect an answer now. I know such decisions are difficult.”
Sukina’s eyes had become slits. “We came to take the boy back. You know that he’s not your property.”
“Oh, him… I personally would be quite happy to give the little brat away, but my mistress quite enjoys
his company. She says she’s essential for some operation or other and who am I to argue about her family’s plans?”
“And why exactly are the Lamford Brothers so important to you?” Sukina asked. “We all know they’re not really your family.”
“But officially they are, you see. The unofficial version, unfortunately, I’m not at liberty to discuss. But then, you are my prisoners here and so my family aren’t any of your concern.”
“So why not arrest us like Faso?” Sukina asked.
“The inventor? His science has always been quite valuable to me. I’m sure after a little rough treatment, I can convince him that he joined the wrong side. For you, however, tough as you seem, I have plans to indenture you into the court.”
“We’ll never.”
“Oh, you will,” King Cini said. “But for now, you must be quite hungry and I’m sure dinner will be ready.” He turned to one of his guards. “Bring them to my dining room.”
He turned on his heel and walked off with a straight back, tailed by three of his elite guards. We went without resistance. So, there was no need for blindfolds or any nonsense like that.
Cini’s palace was – I hate to say it – grander than Fortress Gerhaun. While Fortress Gerhaun was functional full of layers of dust and murk, here everything was manicured, and opulent in marble and obsidian and gold. Every corridor was guarded on each side by rows of golden statues. Figures of Cini’s ancestors and the dukes and earls who had served them well in the wars. On top of each statue, a brass turret stood vigil, with beady red automaton eyes that watched you as you passed. The king didn’t use any of Faso’s fancy secicao technology here – just simple war automatons that would shoot on the first sign of danger.
We walked through several corridors before one opened up into a wide courtyard, limned with elm trees and a pond that ran around the perimeter, its source a fountain of eight quartz lions. Steam rose from the pond, which brought a little heat to the place as you stepped over it. The fountain was covered by a large pagoda with stairs leading up from all four compass points. Cini and five of his redguards led us up to the top.
Up there lay an emerald coloured table, again made of marble. We sat down on some finely carved walnut oak chairs, each wide enough to fit three men. Two teapots lay on the table, a silver and a gold one. The king hitched up his fur cloak, sat himself down on the chair as two redguards stood beside him. A maid in a white plaid skirt and green cotton bib, who had been standing back, stepped forwards and poured King Cini a cup of green tea from the gold pot into a delicate porcelain cup.
She then took hold of the silver pot and poured this strange liquid into the cup. As soon as I saw it emerge from the teapot, I felt drawn towards as if by some hidden force. As the liquid rose within the cup, a silver whirlpool emerged which kept spinning, never settling. Part of me wanted just to reach out, snatch the cup, and take down the liquid in one.
But how could this liquid have such control over me?
“It’s poison,” I said.
King Cini shook his head. “Dear Miss Wells, if I was going to kill you, I simply would have ordered my guards to do the job. Villainous actions like poison are the stuff of novels, not modern life. Please, at least enjoy the pleasure of my finest tea.”
Sukina had the cup in her hand and was swirling around the liquid within. “How can you expect us to drink something,” she said, “which looks so odd when we have no idea what’s within it?” But I could see within her eyes a want to drink it too.
Cini sighed and gestured to one of his guards. The guard nodded and raised his rifle. “I believe you have no choice, Miss Sako. You either do as I say, or I must execute you as a traitor to the king.”
Sukina looked at the barrel of the gun, then she took a sip of the liquid. At first, she looked as if she was going to spit it out. But her expression softened and then she raised the cup to her lips and let the liquid trickle into her mouth. When she put the cup down, it was empty.
“That’s better,” King Cini said. “Miss Wells, the same applies to you…”
I shook my head. If I was going to die here, then I’d rather be poisoned than shot. I raised the cup to my lips. It had a metallic ferric taste, yet so… Familiar. It warmed my throat without burning, like the finest of whiskeys and when it settled down in my stomach, a pleasant tremble ran down my spine. I tipped back the cup and it my body trilled with an orgasmic sensation as the liquid went smoothly down my throat.
“I’ve heard it’s quite fine stuff,” King Cini said. “I’d drink myself, but this stuff isn’t for normal men. Here we call it Exalmpora, and you’ll never guess what’s within it.”
“It’s wonderful,” Sukina said. The words rolled loosely off her tongue. “I guess carrots and ginger. And a hint of Cadigan’s finest silver.”
“No, no, that’s silly,” I said. Somehow, all of a sudden, I wanted to play the king’s games. “It must be hibiscus and oleander – did you know oleander is poisonous, so it must only be a hint, because you don’t want to poison us do you, King Cini?” The world had become blurry and the king’s hard-lined features had become somewhat soft. In the distance of my mind, I could hear very faint echoes. People and dragons talking, about nonsense. The kind of voices you might hear before you go to sleep.
“Oh, this is such a fun game,” King Cini said. I’d never known him so flippant. “I’d love to give you the answer now, but that would ruin the surprise. Why don’t you have some more?”
At first, when the maid poured, some common sense inside me told me to refuse, despite the barrel of the rifle pointed at me. But as time went on, I feared less, and didn’t even notice anyone except Sukina, the king and I were in the room. The day flowed into night and it seemed as if four moons rose high in the sky, although I knew there was only actually one of them.
“You are both very beautiful women,” I remember the king saying at one point. “And my cousins have been most willing to meet you. I believe you’ve already been acquainted, however.”
Then came a voice lucid as crystal in my mind. “Hello, darling,” and I saw Francoiso’s handsome face in front of me. Jagged high cheekbones and the way that his features swirled to from an Adonis fit for the most beautiful of princesses to the most splendid black dragon I’d ever seen. “I see the king’s getting you a little tipsy today.”
Behind I could hear Charth, and even he sounded more charming than usual. But he didn’t need to say much for Sukina to erupt into a fit of giggles. Then another cup of Exalmpora went straight down my throat.
I don’t know how late the night went on. I think the king left us at some point and perhaps I sat on Francoiso’s lap, perhaps I even kissed him. And then Charth said something to Francoiso and they were gone, and gentle hands, perhaps of a guard, carried me off to my chambers.
Soon, I was sinking into soft down and wool and shortly, I was asleep.
I woke up several times throughout the night gasping for air. Nightmares of Velos being chained and war automatons shooting him down from the sky. Sukina launching herself from an airship strapped to some kind of bomb. “I must sacrifice myself to save you,” she said. Then she dived into Cini’s palace and an explosion rocked the sky. A statue of an empress as tall as a mountain looking down from an icy throne, as we stood beside her toe, her toenail arching over our heads. Besides me stood Prince Artua and Faso, and we knew we had to scale the statue. But it would take hours, days, a lifetime to get to the top where we could pull out Finesia’s golden tooth.
Then I woke, and I could hear Sukina. A sea of gibberish. “Faso, Charth, Colas, Alsie. Alsie is here… Finesia, who is Finesia? The Empress… No, she cannot exist. The Gods Themselves have abandoned us and only Gerhaun can show us the light.”
“Sukina,” I called out, but she couldn’t hear me. Or in many ways I couldn’t hear her. I fell back asleep and I kept waking and then falling through clouds and silver whirlpools and midnight dark.
23
I don’t know for how l
ong I slept. I woke to the faint warmth of the sun peeping through the secicao smog to gently touch the back of my neck. Or maybe it was the loud rapping at the door.
“Who is it?” I called, forgetting where I was, and I almost drifted off to sleep.
But then came a shrill pitch in my mind, the same I’d heard the other day on Cini’s airstrip. It bored right through my eardrums into my skull and made me want to throw up.
“Do you have to be so cruel?” that was Francoiso’s voice, coming ever so faintly from behind the door and not in the collective unconscious. I could only just make him out through my throbbing headache.
“It’s not as if your efforts to wake her did her any good,” said a woman, again outside. Her voice was cold, lacking tone.
“Well, she’s awake now. So, you can leave the rest to me.”
“Don’t forget the cure,” the woman said. “Cini has to understand you can’t rush the process.”
The sound of heels tip-tapped away from the door in a steady, rhythm. I dragged myself over to the door and opened it. I peered around into Francoiso’s handsome face, as I held on to the cold handle for dear support.
“Good morning, darling,” Francoiso said. “You’re looking hale and hearty, I must say.” He grinned. He was wearing a purple velvet waistcoat, a white frilly shirt and thin breeches, dressed as if for a hunt.
“Pale and sickly, more like. What was that stuff the king forced upon us yesterday? It gives the worst hangovers.”
“Ah, yes, I almost forgot.” He opened a waistcoat and fumbled through an inside pocket. From it, he produced a thin vial with a green viscous liquid inside. “Here, drink this. Call it a hair of the dog. It doesn’t taste the best, but I have my orders.”
I took the vial and almost dropped it. It was tepid but not to the point of scalding. I took it in my other hand and held the glass at the neck. “I guess you’re not wanting to poison us either. What does the king want with us? He said something about marriage?”
Dragonseers and Airships Page 20
