Riwenne & the Bionic Witches

by Kristen S. Walker

  Janera grunted in acknowledgement, and I could feel the airship turning.

  “Wait, what’s that?” Kyra said. Wind roared through the cockpit.

  My eyes flew open. She’d opened the window again, and she was leaning out, which had to be dangerous at this speed. I sprang out of my seat and rushed over to grab her waist before she could slip.

  Kyra grabbed my hand and hauled herself back inside, panting for breath. She struggled to close the window again. “That didn’t work,” she said. “We need a better view of our rear. But I thought I saw something come off of the other ship, much smaller, and it’s gaining on us fast.”

  I frowned. “Like a smaller ship? Is that possible?”

  “You can’t make tiny airships,” Deryt said. “The envelope alone needs a minimum surface-area-to-volume ratio in order to generate enough lift—”

  “There!” Janera pointed out the windshield as a dark shape darted by. “Is it a rocket?”

  I turned and squinted out. There was something flying around us, smaller than any vehicle I’d seen on land or in the air. It swooped over us and I couldn’t see it outside of the limited view of the windshield.

  Amena leaned forward, craning her neck. “No way was that a rocket. It must have been a bird.”

  The airship shuddered with an impact. I felt the magical shield strain and hold. “Something is attacking us with magic,” I said, hurrying across the cockpit to the other side where I’d felt the hit. “Something very wrong.”

  The dark shape zoomed back into view, and I was in the perfect position to see it. Her. A girl in a flight suit, somehow riding astride on a rocket twice her size, was pointing a huge gun at the airship. Her left arm was mechanical, made of gleaming brass and steel, but it gripped the rocket and a dark power flowed between them. In her right hand, the gun glowed with reddish yellow light and fired a grenade which exploded against my shield with a flash of magic. It probed for weaknesses, eating away at my power. We couldn’t take many hits from that weapon.

  The rocket angled down, taking her under our ship and out of view, but I’d seen enough. The flight suit covered her hair, and the goggles blocked her face, but I knew who it was. Nexita, and she was fueled by a strange new power I’d never seen before. I thought about my dream from last night and shuddered. She’d paid a terrible cost.

  “It’s a girl,” Janera gasped. “At least, it looked like a girl, although I’ve never seen anyone fly like that before. How do we stop her?”

  Kyra snatched the safety line from the wall and clipped it onto her belt. “Everyone, strap yourselves in,” she warned, reaching for the door handle.

  “Wait, I’ll help you.” Amena secured herself on a second safety line, then created grenade launcher of her own with her powers. “Okay, let’s take that thing down.”

  I stared at them in horror. “You’re going to shoot her? Don’t you realize who that is?” I flinched as another magical grenade hit the ship. It was hard to concentrate on holding the shield while doing anything else. “It’s Nexita. This could be our chance to save her!”

  Kyra pushed me into a chair. “We can’t worry about that. You just keep us in the air, and we’ll handle her. Make sure you buckle yourself in tight.” She nodded at the seatbelt.

  The ship groaned and leaned to one side. If I didn’t put all of my strength into holding up the shield, it would fall, and those grenades would do major damage to our hull. I fumbled with the seatbelt, but I reached out and grabbed Kyra’s hand before she could go back to the door. “Promise you’ll try not to hurt her,” I said, looking up at her with desperate eyes.

  Kyra shook her head. “I can’t promise that when it’s our lives on the line.” She yanked away from me and went back to Amena, helping her open the door so they could position their weapons.

  I wanted to watch the fight, but I could feel the shield weakening. I closed my eyes and put my whole self into praying to Quilla. The shield flared up stronger than before, covering every inch of the airship.

  Grenades continued to strike the shield in different spots, testing for weaknesses. Nexita’s new magic burned like a fire, licking hungrily at my defenses. Despite the protection and wind rushing through the open door, I felt heat growing around me, and I struggled to keep breathing. If only I still had Sawycha’s help. I’m sure her power would have helped me cool down.

  I drew on Quilla’s power as much as I dared, but I feared letting her take control of me again. I didn’t know if I’d be able to stop her from hurting Nexita. There wasn’t much coming from the goddess, so I was using a lot of my own power to make up the difference. I was growing weaker under the strain. The battle sounded muffled in my ears.

  “Here she comes around again,” Janera called over the roar of the wind. “Get ready to fire!”

  “You aim for that rocket she’s on,” Kyra said. “I’ll shoot the gun, maybe we can disable it.”

  I felt a small surge of hope at Kyra’s words. Maybe she was trying not to hurt Nexita. But what if they disabled the rocket she was flying on? I didn’t know how high we were now, but a fall would be fatal.

  We were trapped, locked in this horrible struggle. There had to be another way.

  Amena let out a whoop. “That’s a hit! And down she goes.”

  “No!” I unbuckled my seatbelt and tried to rise, but the wind pushed me back from the door. “What do you mean, she’s going down?”

  Kyra, braced against the wall, craned her neck to look. “She’s heading back to the other airship. Her rocket is smoking, but she should make it.” She turned and gestured to Deryt. “If you take us up over this mountain, I don’t think they’ll be able to follow.”

  Deryt nodded and his godcrystal flashed brighter. Our ship began to rise. Amena and Kyra closed and latched the door, cutting off the wind and leaving behind deafening silence.

  As soon as I could move, I rushed to the window and looked down. There was a tiny shape heading for the enemy’s warship, a dark plume of smoke flowing out behind it. I tried to reach out with my magic, to make sure it was Nexita and she could get back, but the last of my strength was being drained for the shield during our rapid ascent. Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision.

  I looked up at the others. My eyes couldn’t focus, and the room was spinning. “Find… somewhere safe…” I gasped out.

  Everything went black.

  4

  The Weight of Leadership

  My dreams were scattered and unfocused. I saw flashes of Nexita flying back to Lyndamon City, and something that looked like the inside of another factory, but I couldn’t tell anything else. I was too tired to pay attention, even when I was asleep. If only I didn’t have to open my eyes and I could just drift far, far away from everything.

  But I couldn’t sleep forever. This time when I woke up, the curtains were open on my bunk window, letting in the red-gold light of sunset. I saw the bunk above me and put my hand over my head as I sat up.

  Tika hopped onto the edge of my bed. “Oh, good, you’re awake.” She cocked her head to one side. “I’d lecture you about overdoing it again, but you’ve heard this all before. Why don’t you get up and come eat something?”

  I grumbled at her stern tone, but I forced myself to get up. My clothes were rumpled. I didn’t have the energy to change. I stumbled to the door.

  Everyone sat around the table in the galley. Deryt jumped up and offered me his arm to lean on, and I was too weak to refuse. I let him help me onto the nearest bench.

  Janera jumped up and dusted off her apron. “I’ve made some fresh pastries for you. They should still be warm.” She put a whole plate of fruit pastries, glistening with sugar glaze, on the table in front of me. Then she poured a full glass of milk. “We also have plain bread, if you’d like to start with something simpler, or I could make some soup?” She hovered nearby.

  My stomach rumbled. I knew I needed to eat, to replenish my strength, but the sight of so much fresh food made me pause. “Where did all of th
is come from?”

  Amena flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Borrowed,” she said. “From someone who had plenty to spare.”

  I pushed the plate away. “You mean it was stolen.”

  Kyra pushed it back. “Don’t worry about it. We have no other options. We’ve got no money, the rebels are refusing to help us, and the government is still looking for us.”

  My mouth watered at the smell, but I turned my head. I looked out the window to nothing but rocks. “Where are we, anyway?”

  “Someplace safe, for now,” Deryt said. He picked up a pastry and shoved the whole thing into his mouth, licking glaze off his fingers. “Tucked up in the mountains, but any patrol flying overhead could spot us, so it’s just a matter of time until they find us again. I also went out with the paint and changed our name. Say hello to Quilla’s Revenge.” He patted the bulkhead.

  The name sounded too dramatic. I didn’t have the energy to argue about more than one thing.

  Amena folded her arms. “We can’t give the food back, so you might as well eat or it will go to waste. Besides, where do you think the rebellion gets their food from? Not to mention weapons and everything else.”

  “That doesn’t make it right.” I picked up a pastry and took a bite. Despite Janera’s skill at baking, I couldn’t enjoy the flavor. I choked down the rest and looked around for more. “You said there was bread?”

  Janera handed me another plate full of flatbread, cheese, and meat. “You didn’t like the pastries?”

  I forced myself to smile. “No, they’re delicious. I just need something more substantial.” I continued to eat but tasting none of it. So weird to think that I couldn’t enjoy food, but I felt guilty, wondering who it had come from. Even if it could be spared, would some innocent person get in trouble for the missing food?

  “Let’s get down to business.” Amena looked up at the birds. “What’s the next step in our mission?”

  Tika and Uqra exchanged a look. “Well,” Tika drawled, “that question is difficult to answer. Things haven’t been going according to plan.”

  Deryt coughed. “You can say that again.”

  Tika glared at him. “What I mean is, we were only given specific instructions up to a point and then I thought we’d hear more from the gods about what to do next.” She tilted her head at me. “Or a specific goddess, Quilla. But since things have gone sideways, we have made no contact.”

  I sat up straighter. “Wait, you can’t talk to Quilla?”

  “What specific instructions were you given?” Amena said.

  Tika fluttered her wings. “Um, well, we weren’t supposed to reveal everything until you were ready, but I guess you’re as ready as you’ll be.” She glanced at Uqra again, who nodded.

  “It boils down to this: a small group of the gods got tired of living in Chysa’s shadow and wanted to help bring Quilla back. So they promised to give their powers to a few pure-hearted individuals. You would train with their magic, and then when one of you was strong enough, you could break through the barrier and contact the moon goddess.”

  They all looked at me. I shrank back into my seat. “Um, so if I’m not hearing from Quilla now, that’s a problem?”

  Tika sighed. “Yes. You were supposed to free her. But we don’t know where she is or how to contact her.” She nodded at my locket. “Based on what I saw today, I think you only have some residual power stored in your godcrystal. I don’t know how long it’ll last or when you’ll get more. I’d suggest you use it sparingly.”

  I shifted. I’d used a lot of magic in that last fight just to get away, and although I’d felt it running out, I’d never had a limit on divine power before. I opened my locket and looked at the crystal inside, but it didn’t glow at all.

  Kyra groaned. “So you just let her waste the last of her magic? Why didn’t you warn her about this sooner?”

  Tika lifted her head high. “Riwenne has advanced in her training faster than all of you, and she never had a problem connecting with the gods. I didn’t realize what was happening until I saw her using her own life force.” She looked at me again. “What happened when you tried to call on her?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t know. I can sense that she’s there, but very far away, and something blocked me like… a wall or something.” I looked around at the others, feeling alone. “But everyone else—your magic is still working like normal?”

  The others all nodded without making eye contact. Great. So I was the only failure.

  “Why do we need to bring Quilla back? Where did she go?” Deryt said.

  Kyra rolled her eyes. “Chysa banished her, everyone knows that.”

  “Why?”

  “She wanted to be the leader of the gods and control humanity,” Kyra said, raising her eyebrows. “Haven’t you heard the stories?”

  Deryt opened his mouth to snap back at her, but Amena put a hand on his shoulder. “Easy, there.” She turned back to Kyra. “We’ve heard the stories, but they also taught us to question them. I think what Deryt is trying to say is we don’t know if those old myths are true.” She raised her eyebrows at Tika and Uqra. “Are they?”

  Tika shook her head. “At least one sister was trying to take over, yes—Chysa succeeded. I wasn’t there, of course, so I don’t know the full story.”

  Kyra lifted her hand. “Why ‘of course’ you weren’t there? Wasn’t that hundreds of years ago?”

  Tika shot a glare at Kyra. “It’s not polite to comment on a lady’s age.” She preened her feathers and continued. “The point is, we need to find Quilla, wherever she’s been trapped, and get her out. We have limited magic and we need to find alternatives. So we’re open to suggestions.”

  Everyone sat in stunned silence for several minutes. I looked down at my plate and realized I’d eaten less than half my food. Well, if it kept me from having to come up with the brilliant, impossible plan to save all of us without using magic, I could eat more. I picked up another piece of bread.

  Deryt tapped his fingers on the table. “I don’t know how long we can stay hidden here. Maybe Nayaraq was right and we should ditch the airship. It’s way too conspicuous to be flying around.”

  Amena shook her head. “The airship lets us stay mobile, which is the only thing we’ve got going for us right now. Instead of a permanent hiding spot, we could stay on the move. Their patrols can’t be everywhere, and a little ship can fit in hard-to-find spots in the mountains and the jungle.”

  Kyra had been watching me. Now she lifted her head and looked at the others. “Isn’t there another way to move without the ship? I mean, Deryt’s right that it’s recognizable. Trains move faster, don’t they? Is there some way we could sneak onto trains?”

  Janera refilled my glass of milk just as I drained it and tapped me on the shoulder. “A train can’t get us to Lyndamon, right? Isn’t that where you wanted? To see Nexita again.”

  Kyra looked at her sharply. “Yesterday’s attack proved Nexita is a lost cause.”

  I dropped the piece of bread I was eating in surprise. “Wait, yesterday?”

  “You’ve been asleep for a full day,” Kyra snapped. “And since you’re the only one who can heal, there was nothing to do but sit here and worry. So, fearless leader, consider the danger to yourself before you go near that traitor again!”

  She stood up from the table and stormed off toward the front of the ship, but not before I saw tears streaming down her cheeks. Her words stung, but I could hear the pain behind them. She was lashing out because she was afraid for my safety.

  I looked down at my plate. “I’m sorry for making all of you worry about me,” I said, blinking back tears of my own. “She’s right, there might not be a way to get Nex back. I don’t know what else to do.” I wiped my face on my sleeve. “I can’t speak to any of the gods. Don’t have any magic left. If the gods have a plan for us, I don’t know what it is. I don’t think I’m a leader.”

  Janera sat down on the bench next to me and put her arm around me. “B
ut you got us this far, and you’ve talked to the gods more than any of the rest of us have. I know it’s hard, but you can’t just give up.”

  Deryt cleared his throat. “We’ve made the irreversible decision to follow you. We can’t go back now.”

  Tika hopped onto my free shoulder. “The gods told me that you should be our leader. They sent me to you first.”

  “Actually, I found Amena first,” Uqra said, one of her rare moments of speaking, and everyone turned to stare at her in surprise. “A-and she has more experience, I mean, as a rebel. Maybe it’s time for her to be the leader.”

  Amena held up her hands. “I’m not taking over. Riwenne was the leader before I even joined your group, so I’m fine following her.”

  I lifted my head and smiled at her. “No, I think Uqra’s right. I’m a terrible leader. I don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t have any magic left, and I only got this far by sheer luck. I’m more than ready to let someone else take over.” I let out a sigh of relief. This would be a huge weight off of my shoulders.

  Amena raised her eyebrows in surprise. She reached across the table and grabbed my hand. “Are you sure?”

  I squeezed her hand and nodded. “Yes, I’m sure. You take over for now.”

  Everyone looked around but no one protested. I guess they’d never believed in me if they switched so fast.

  Tika ruffled her feathers. “Well, I suppose we could try it for a while, at least. What would be your first order of business as our leader?”

  Amena stood up, a look of determination coming over her face. “We need supplies, weapons, and familiar ground to get our bearings again.” She turned to Deryt. “I think we should go home.”

  Deryt sat back in his seat. “To Jabin? The last I heard, they were forced to move the village to another location.”