Riwenne & the Bionic Witches

by Kristen S. Walker

  Deryt headed for the stairs outside. “If I can get our ship back in the air quick enough, I can lead them away.”

  Sawycha looked at me and shook her head. If she was warning us away, we’d better listen.

  “No,” I said, heaving a sigh. “We all need to go. We barely fought off Nex last time, and if she has more on her side, it’s too dangerous.” I turned to Vilqa. “I’m sorry we don’t have more time to explain, but you’d better come with us.”

  Vilqa frowned. “No offense, but I just met you guys, and I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would I run from the imperial army?”

  I shot one last look at the unsealed shrine, then took Vilqa’s hand and pulled them after me. “Remember when I said you’d be fighting Sawycha’s enemies? Now they’re coming to kill us. Welcome to the rebellion.”

  13

  More Witches

  There was no time to sneak out by the tide pools, and the enemy already seemed to know where we were. We raced out the front entrance of the temple.

  Although it was only the gray of pre-dawn outside, there were already people up and about. Most were heading for Chysa’s temple for the dawn ceremony, but many sailors and fishermen were on the docks, preparing their boats for the day’s work. Some shouted and pointed when they saw us running out of the temple.

  A constable stepped into our path, holding up his hands. “Whoa, there, what’s the hurry, kids?” He squinted at Vilqa. “Hey, aren’t you the one who ran away from the canning factory last week?”

  Vilqa took a step back, trying to pull their hand away from mine. “I’m sorry, I can’t let them catch me,” they pleaded.

  I held on tight. “You’re staying with us. We’ll keep you safe.”

  Amena nodded and held up her crystal. “I’ll take care of it.”

  Her crystal flashed constable’s face. When he flinched and covered his eyes, she hit him over the head with the hilt of a dagger. He sank to the ground, unconscious.

  “Wow, how’d you do that?” Vilqa said.

  “She’s had a lot of practice.” I stepped around the fallen guard and tugged Vilqa after me. “C’mon, before someone else shows up.”

  Fortunately, it wasn’t a long shot from the temple to the edge of town. Deryt knocked out one more constable, but most people took one look at our weapons and hurried out of our way.

  We’d just made it to the cliff above the cove when I heard a whirring sound. I lifted my head and saw Nexita bearing down on us, flying on another enormous rocket. Two more witches flanked her, all of them glowing with the sickening red light of blood magic.

  I yanked Vilqa down on the ground and threw my arm up to cover my head, just as the first rain of bullets from their guns descended on us. They were far enough away that most of the shots went wide, but I heard one of them glancing off of Janera’s shield. I looked up and saw she was crouching over to protect us.

  But they were getting closer, fast, and their next shots wouldn’t be so easy to dodge. Quilla’s Revenge was below, but climbing down the narrow cliff path would be far too dangerous while we were under attack.

  Kyra fired a shot from her bow at the rockets, forcing them to dodge, and then beckoned to the rest of us. “We’ve got to jump for it!” She launched herself off the cliff.

  Vilqa’s eyes widened. “The fall will kill us!”

  I put my hand over theirs, the one still clutching the godcrystal. “You have the power of a goddess. Trust me, you can do this.”

  Janera shoved us and braced her shield again. “Go now! I’ll cover you!”

  Vilqa inched toward the cliff’s edge, then gasped when they saw Amena and Deryt already jumping over. Kyra was safe on the ground, shooting at the witches. Vilqa turned to me, gripping my hand. “I’ve never done something like this. Help me.”

  I wrapped my free arm around their waist. “You need to help me, because I have no power. Just have faith in Sawycha. Hurry!”

  Vilqa looked frightened, and for a moment I was afraid they’d leave me here—or worse, drop me. But they put both arms around me and launched us into the air.

  We landed in the sand and ran. Ahead of us, Amena and Deryt were starting the airship’s engine. I could hear Janera yelling as she came up behind us.

  Into the airship, buckle into seats, and close the door. I whispered to Vilqa as the others readied for take-off, urging them to pray and use their magic however they could. The newest warrior didn’t know how to fight, but maybe with my instructions, they could help form a protective barrier over the airship like I’d done before.

  Kyra leaned toward the window. “Here they come again!”

  Deryt spat out a curse and punched the throttle. “Hold on!”

  Quilla’s Revenge lurched off the ground only a moment before the first blast of energy struck, causing the ship to tilt to one side. Janera yelped as she struggled with the flight controls.

  Vilqa turned toward me with wide eyes. “Should we even be in this ship? How many hits like that can we take?”

  I tried to look confident as I patted their hand. “More than you’d think,” I said. “The envelope can support our weight even with a few holes. But it works better if we can protect it.” I cupped my hand to show the shape of the shield. “Think of your magic like a bubble of light around us. It holds the ship together, strengthens it, keeps out the enemy—”

  Boom! Another shot on the same side, tilting us again. I glanced out the window and saw the airship was leaning very close to the cliff side. If we didn’t get enough height, we couldn’t clear the rocks.

  Vilqa squeezed their eyes shut and shook their head. “I can’t do it!”

  I grabbed both of their hands in my left and squeezed. “Call on the magic and picture what you want to happen. Don’t think about anything else!”

  Through our joined hands, I felt Sawycha’s magic grow again. Everything was just the way I remembered it—the deep blue light, the salt in my nostrils, the feeling like a cool breeze passing over me. Without thinking, I began to shape it like I had always done when the power was mine.

  Power flowed out and surrounded the ship. I pictured us floating up, light as a feather. The shots rattling the ship’s frame cut off. I opened my eyes and saw us soaring far above the cliffs, heading for the open sky.

  “You’re doing it!” I squeezed Vilqa’s hands tighter. “That’s it, keep praying. We’re almost…”

  Then the ship crested the ridge high enough for us to see the port, and the sight hit me like a shock of cold water.

  The first ship of the imperial fleet had reached us. But the guns weren’t trained in our direction. Cannon balls rained down on Sawycha’s temple, and as I watched, the stone building crumbled and fell into the sea.

  Deryt turned the airship as fast as he dared, heading for the mountains in the east.

  “No,” I whispered, shaking my head. I reached out and grabbed his shoulder. “No, go back! We have to save the temple!”

  Amena slapped my hand away. “Don’t distract him!” she hissed. “We have to get away. We could all get captured, or worse. It’s too late for the temple.”

  I craned my neck at the window for a last glimpse of the temple as they reduced it to rubble. “But the shrine,” I protested. “Sawycha could still be there, protecting the shrine. She’s guarded it for so long, it can’t be lost now.”

  Tika flew in my face, blocking out the horrible view. “It’s too late! The enemy must have realized what we’re doing. They’ll make sure there’s nothing left.”

  I could feel Vilqa struggling to maintain the shield without my full help. I reached for them and focused the power again, shaking with the tragedy of the loss. “I can’t believe they’d do that,” I whimpered. “The oldest temple in Arkia… it’s such an important part of our history. How could the priestesses let Rennu destroy it? Don’t they believe in anything anymore?”

  “We have bigger problems,” Kyra said. She moved to the safety harnesses by the door, preparing to fight
back. “Amena, will you spot me?”

  I knew they had to defend us from Nexita and the other witches, but I couldn’t bear to watch it happen yet again. I squeezed my eyes shut as the girls readied their weapons and opened the door.

  Vilqa gripped my hand like they were holding on for dear life. “I don’t understand what’s going on. Please tell me we won’t die in a fiery explosion.”

  “Haven’t died yet,” Deryt quipped from the front seat. “Although if we keep getting into these situations, which seems to be inevitable, we should switch to a more combat-ready aircraft. We can barely see where the enemies are, let alone fight back.”

  I shivered at the thought of mounting weapons onto our airship, but he had a point. Deryt and Janera had only one direction they could see from the front windshield, while Amena and Kyra had even more limited firing range by leaning out of the door. We had no money, no tools, and no supplies to make the ship stronger, and forming a magical shield was a constant drain of energy.

  But if we could transform our own clothes into armor and summon weapons out of thin air, who’s to say we couldn’t do the same for our ship?

  “Hold the shield,” I whispered to Vilqa. “Keep it steady, just like I showed you.”

  “What are you doing?” they whispered back.

  “I’m… trying something, hang on.”

  I reached out to Vilqa’s magic and tested it. For their first time using magic, they were already drawing on a lot of power from Sawycha, although it was raw and unfocused. It was incredible how open and trusting they were to let me take hold and shape it. I could have reached into their own life force and drained them of everything.

  I recoiled at the thought. Was that what Nexita had done when she sacrificed that poor victim for Chysa—taken someone else’s magic for her own? I’d never do something like that, but Vilqa had only just met me. They must have faith in Sawycha if they took the goddess’s word to follow me.

  Being extra careful not to touch any of Vilqa’s energy, I drew on every ounce of magic they had from the goddess. I brought out the tiniest thread of my power to shape and bind it to my will, then pictured what I wanted in my mind. I molded the airship like clay.

  Chaos erupted in the cockpit.

  “What?”

  “Get back inside!”

  “Why did all the controls just change?”

  My eyes flew open. I only meant to change the outside of the airship, but some things had shifted inside, too. Extra windows had popped up all along the walls, expanding our field of vision. Deryt scrambled to grab new control sticks while Janera stared at the panel in confusion. Amena pulled Kyra back into the ship and slammed the door.

  Oops. I guess I should have told them what I was doing. “Sorry, sorry,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt and swaying to my feet. I braced myself against the back of Janera’s seat and peered at her new control scheme. “Um, I think some of those are for the new guns,” I said, pointing.

  “Guns? What did you do?” Janera spluttered.

  “I was just trying to help.” Hoping she wouldn’t mind, I grabbed her hand and put it on the trigger, reaching out for her magic at the same time.

  A bolt of energy exploded out near the right side of the airship, striking one of the witch’s rockets. I didn’t have time to see if the target was Nexita before they plummeted toward the ground.

  “Whoa!” Deryt veered the ship left, away from the explosion. “Warn me next time before you mess with my ship, okay?”

  Kyra dropped her bow and reached for the triggers. “That was awesome. Can I try?”

  Janera waved her hands. “Everyone, back off and let me figure this out!”

  I staggered back to my seat as Deryt increased the airship’s speed. Janera squeezed off a few more shots, destroying another witch and even striking one of the imperial airships, but I could see from our new windows that we were pulling away.

  I sank back with a heavy sigh. Looks like we were safe for another day.

  14

  Upgrades

  Two tense hours later, Deryt found a suitable hiding spot in the hills and landed the airship. We tumbled outside and looked up at our changed ship. I was just as surprised as everyone else.

  “It doesn’t look like it should even be able to fly.” Deryt shook his head. “You reinforced the envelope, but you didn’t compensate for the extra weight of the ship itself, including all those guns. The armor isn’t aerodynamic at all—look, you added all these new flippers and things.” He rapped on the hull. “I don’t think you even used the right metal.”

  I shrugged and held up my hands. “I copied a picture I saw in a book. I thought it looked cool.”

  Janera pressed her hand to my forehead like she was checking for a fever. “How did you manage this without passing out? I thought Tika said you had no magic left unless you used up your own life.”

  I glanced over at Vilqa, who was sitting on the ground looking woozy. “Um, I sort of… borrowed Vilqa’s magic to do it.” I crouched down in front of them. “I hope you’re feeling okay. I tried not to take any of your energy, but I’ve made mistakes in the past.”

  Vilqa shook their head. “I mean, I guess I’m feeling alright, at least physically. I’m just freaking out. When are you going to explain what’s going on?”

  I sighed. “Anyone else want to give them the quick version?”

  Tika glided down to land on the ground in front of Vilqa. “As Sawycha’s messenger, I suppose this is my responsibility.”

  “Right, the talking bird.” Vilqa looked up at me. “But can I talk to you about everything, too? You promised.”

  I nodded. “Yes, I’ll answer every question you have as soon as I have a spare minute. Let me just deal with this.”

  I got back to my feet and walked over to where Deryt was climbing over the ship, inspecting everything. He looked down at my approach.

  “I can’t believe you did all this without crashing the ship, or crumpling up the whole frame like a piece of paper and squashing us inside.” He dropped next to me with a laugh and slapped me on the back. “I guess I should ask you to show me how you did it. With my engineering knowledge and your magical expertise, maybe we can adjust it into a more realistic design.”

  I blinked at him in surprise. “I thought you were mad.”

  Deryt laughed again. “I sure was shocked.” He put his hands on his hips and leaned back to take in the full view. “But I have to give you credit for getting us here alive.”

  I blushed and looked at the ground. I wasn’t used to Deryt saying anything nice about me.

  Janera cleared her throat. “Sounds good, but can we go back to the part about you using someone else’s magic?” She held up her hand. “Did you do that to me when you helped me fire the gun?”

  “Right, that.” I didn’t know how much Janera could sense what I’d done. Now I was wishing Tika was here to help explain things to me. “Um, I wasn’t trying to intrude or anything. I thought it would only work with Vilqa at first since, you know, I used to have Sawycha’s power. I was trying to help them since they were new.”

  I didn’t realize I was backing away from the others until I bumped into someone. I turned around and saw Amena glaring at me, with Uqra on her shoulder. I couldn’t read the quetzal’s expression, but she seemed to judge me, too.

  “You can’t take someone else’s magic,” Amena said, her voice cold. “Rennu made those machines to steal people’s energy. And according to you, Nexita is killing people for their magic. We can’t resort to their dirty tactics.”

  I shrank down. “I realized while it happened that I could end up doing something like that. But I promise, I wasn’t trying to hurt Vilqa or Janera.” I glanced at Janera. “Right? It didn’t hurt, it wasn’t even like I took your magic away from you. I just directed it into the gun to show you what to do.”

  Janera looked at her hand again. “I guess so.” She looked up with a shrug. “I don’t know. It all happened so fast.”

 
“But you just admitted that you’ve made mistakes with your own power in the past,” Kyra said, pointing an accusing finger at me. “What’s keeping you from going too far?”

  “I don’t know.” I looked desperately at Uqra. “Do you think I should stop?”

  Uqra stared at me for a long moment while everyone else fell silent. At last, she lifted her head and spoke. “Your friends put their trust in your hands when you use their magic,” she whispered. “I think you need to be careful about how you use it.”

  I nodded. “Of course. I only did it because it was an emergency. If you don’t want me to do—that, I won’t try it again.”

  Deryt coughed. “Actually, I was hoping you’d help me with the airship. For the design changes.”

  I whipped my head around and stared at him, barely believing my ears. “Are you sure that’s safe?”

  Deryt ran a hand through his hair. “I figure if you go too far, I can just tell you to stop, right?”

  I nodded again, afraid to speak. Whatever I said might come out wrong, and I could feel my friends’ trust in me hanging by a thread right now.

  Kyra sniffed. “I think we’d better get a third person to keep an eye on you both, just to be sure.”

  “How could you tell?” Amena asked. “Riwenne seems like she can see magic in a way that nobody else has learned.” Her eyes narrowed. “You’re the only one who can heal, the one who claims to see magic, and now this new power. Why do you get all the weird abilities?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t open magical portals or anything crazy like that,” I shot back at her.

  Uqra brushed Amena’s cheek with her wing. “Hush. Each of you has your own strengths, and you’ll develop them with time. Some are gifts from the gods.” She turned her knowing gaze back to me. “Even without Quilla’s full strength, you may have a small connection to her, however hidden. Or these gifts may be totally your own. It’s not for me to say.”