War; she had seen it bubbling in the city. The realignment with Valhalla, the talk of unbowed Lyndon privateers. They had both seen it in Mother’s shift of preferred targets over the last year. The Steward’s fleet pointed eastward. Toward Lyndon.
“Yaki, that’s almost the entire navy!” Ishe said. “We have to stop him or the city will be defenseless!”
Fly a stolen ship directly to Golden Hills and tell the Steward that a dragon thought three hundred years dead was about to smash his city. Yaki crossed her arms and set her shoulders. There were so many things they both needed to explain, but this had to be made crystal-clear. “Crew. Firrst,” Yaki said.
They stared at each other, both of their mouths compressing into identical thin lines and flinty stares. Yaki remembered the scent of the flesh burning as she got jammed up in the escape tunnel. The sight of Hawk’s retreating backside. Such a mess. She thought of how Simon stood up to the monstrous Lady Night to help her, for a distant chance of a different life.
“We’re losing time. The Steward will need every one of his ships to kill that dragon.” Ishe’s eyes seemed to shine oddly, the dark brown far lighter than Yaki remembered.
Words jammed up in Yaki’s head, all wanting to release at her sister. To make her understand where she had come from, what she’d been through. They all added up to the same concept. “Crew first, Ishe,” she said, her voice sounding almost human for once. “I cap-TAN.”
Ishe’s eyes slid sideways as she let go of the crank’s handle. “We’ll circle around one of the Spine’s teeth and slip down to pick up the others. Hopefully, the party with us heard the cannon shots and are on their way back.” She bit her lip as she stared at the disembarking navy, a calculating stare.
Yaki closed her eyes to assemble her words, the journal she had stashed in the guard’s satchel she wore finally occurring to her, but she dismissed it. It would be better said. She strung the sounds together, “We save it.” She paused. “I promise.”
“He has to die, Yaki. Or else…” She refocused on her sister. “Or this is the beginning. What he did to you, he’ll do to others. And Golden Hills…it’s merely first on the menu.”
Chapter Seven
I have observed that humans have a very limited supply of patience.
From Thoughts of a God, Yaz’noth
Gama sat with Chimon some distance away from the cluster of crystal-touched. The trees around the area were no wider than a foot but gave off a surly vibe so palpable that they were unpleasant to lean against. His eyes had not left the door since Yaki had disappeared through it. He had already constructed a list of reasons in his head that he should have gone with them, which mostly ended at the fact that he could talk and Yaki couldn’t.
“Careful, Gama, ya might light that door on fire if ya keep staring at it like that,” Chimon said.
“They were going to take a peek. They should be back by now.” Gama said, mind beginning to list out all the possible ways that it could have gone wrong. Captured, killed, forced into a cucumber-eating contest…
“Relax. They’re fine. When Yaki’s not whimpering in pain, she’s tougher than steel. She got her eyeball stabbed out. And she’s with that mountain she calls a sister. I’d be more worried for poor House Yokoyama right now.” Chimon grinned impishly. “Any chance she has a thing for short men?”
“No chance.” Drosa dropped down next to Chimon with a smile. “She only like woman who try to kill her.”
Chimon made a show of clutching at his chest. “Nine hells, nine bells, lady!” Chimon exclaimed. “How the hell did you sneak up on us with hair that loud?”
Her hair answered for itself, dimming from shining radiance to sandy blond. “You only hear yourself talk anyway.” She fixed Gama with her shining eyes. “Why do you follow Yaki?”
Gama blinked at the directness of the question.
“’Cause he’s in loooove!” Chimon laughed.
“That’s not it!” Gama sputtered. “She saved my life, and I had a vision when she did.” He shivered as he grasped for the memory. They had all been there, Gama, Raiju, and Chimon, kneeling in front of a bright shadow that had been Yaki. All of them older. All of them protecting something.
Chimon raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, but you’re still in love.”
“Shut up, Chimon.” Gama grumped, pulling his glasses off and polishing them with a cloth.
“I same but different. I get saddled with helping Ishe for tribe.” She grinned. “Ishe stubborn like goat and fearless. I like. Not too many woman want woman who can fight at home.” A sad smile crossed her features but was quickly banished by a wider one. “Can’t go home.” She pointed to geometric design that appeared to be burned into her skin. “I pathfinder now. See world. See world with Ishe. Eyah worried that sisters might break world somehow.” She chuckled as if that were funny. “Big spirits around both.”
“That doesn’t sound like—” The sharp report of a cannon killed the words on Chimon’s tongue.
Shoving his spectacles onto his face, Gama searched for the source of the shot. Seeing no actual cannon shot falling among their ranks, he searched the sky, but trees blocked the view. Running toward the wall, Gama found himself in a scrum of the crystal-touched as they all crowded beneath the narrow patch of visible sky between the trees and the wall.
Three cannons fired with thunderous bangs as burning red shells shot toward a speck against the clouds. They slowed and exploded before they reached it. Two other specks were racing after it but stalled halfway.
Simon squinted in a pained manner at the sky. “What happened?”
Drosa’s hair winked out to black and then rekindled itself. “They stole ship.”
Gama stared at the speck but couldn’t come up with a better explanation. Either they had caused a ship to flee or they were on it.
“I think they skipped the first part of Ishe’s plan.” Gama recalled Ishe’s speech. Had they stolen a ship big enough to kill a dragon with?
Gama thought through the scenario. Judging by the way this place allowed the trees to grow so close, they would be relying on its own kami to keep it hidden. Then when something happened to it, they couldn’t rely on anyone noticing the cannon fire. Particularly in daytime.
They’d send a runner or release a bird as soon as they had a spare moment. They’d probably do both. On the road, it might be a day for a horse to reach the capital.
“Drosa!” Gama pushed his glasses back up his nose and scanned the crowd. The girl with wings for arms hadn’t come along, nor did anyone with them look particularly arboreal. Drosa returned his gaze. “They’re going to send birds with a message; shoot it down.
She glanced up to the treetops. “Aye.” Locating the thickest-looking tree nearby, she ran toward it and started to climb.
“Everyone else with me; they’ll send a message to the capital by rider, too. We’ll have to ambush it. Then get back to camp,” Gama said.
“Oooh, horse meat! Delicious.” Grim, the skeletal giant made a mmmm sound.
“What about the prisoner?” Simon gestured at man crouching by Grim’s feet. Gama had entirely forgotten about him.
“He would also be delicious.” Grim cackled, and Gama hoped the crystal-touched was joking.
“Grab him. He’ll come with us for now.” Gama wondered whether Yaki would have simply killed him. That would be her call later on. “Orchid, which way to a good ambush site?”
“Best to go straight to the road and follow it until it bends out of sight of the grove fortress.” Orchid responded.
Assuming Drosa could find her own way, Gama led the motley crew back toward the road. Like the wall, no tree dared extend a branch over it, bending their entire trunks away. Mother had told stories about how one tree alone tended to be lonely and friendly to travelers, while packs of them became territorial and jealous of the plains and grasses. Gama stole to the very edge of the road and peeked back down it. The fortress’s entrance yawned open maybe a thousand feet back. Framed
by forbidding black stone, the top of the gates sat slightly below the tree line as if the entire structure had hunkered down to hide in the forest. The heads of at least four men poked out over the rampart, and a cannon sat between them.
Checking the other direction, Gama found the road to be distressingly straight, rolling down the hill and up the following one. A mile? Two? To the top of that next hill. How far could that cannon reach? Gama spun back to the group. Didn’t matter. Gama backed away from the road and started to jog. Or tried to; the forest offered up a root that sent him stumbling.
He had to settle for a fast walk. He gestured for everyone to follow, and soon his wake filled with crashing and cursing as everyone tried to get down the hill as fast as possible. Chimon managed to catch up, and two of the crystal-touched, Brit and Nix, ran out ahead, propelling themselves off the trees and using their feline tails as rudders.
The sound of hooves caught up to them far too soon. Gama panted hard, midway up that second hill, the one he had wanted to set up the ambush on the other side of. Worse, it did not sound like a single horse. Gama swung out to the road to see three riders thundering out of the gate and racing down toward him. Yellow wind crystals shone from forehead of each, wards against arrows and bolts. How to stop them, how to stop them?
His mind spun out a list. Cut down a tree—no time. Shoot them—that’s what the wind crystals were there to defend against. Knock them off? Nobody had a lance. Grim might be able to do it. Gama turned and looked to see who was behind him. He found Xiy and Orchid but no Glub or Grim. They had fallen behind. Orchid held a crossbow, while Xiy whistled in multiple tones as he took in a breath.
Or…or they could spook the horses! Bees were scary. And horses disliked scary things “Xiy, how many bees do you have in there?”
He put both hands on his knees and gasped for breath. “What do you mean?”
“Swarm them. Swarm the horses,” Gama said.
“I’m not very fast. My bees, I mean,” Xiy said as the horses’ pounding hooves hammered ever closer.
“Try. Do what you can,” Gama said. “Please.”
Xiy looked to Orchid, whose skin still had a pallor to it. With her nod, Xiy closed his eyes, and a buzzing began to swell out of his chest.
Gama swung his body around, searching for something to slow the horses. Step out in front of them—no, that would probably make them speed up. Couldn’t cut down an entire tree, but branches? Yes, the branches that had been trying to trip them littered the forest floor. “Everyone else! Grab the biggest branch you can and toss it onto the road.” Stooping, Gama picked up a stick and hurled onto the cobblestones. The horses were halfway to them now as everyone beside Xiy followed suit until a patch of the road lay covered in sharp sticks. From Xiy, hundreds of bees climbed from the holes that dotted his body until his arms, head, and torso disappeared under a mass of buzzing black-and-yellow bodies.
The riders slowed to a trot as they neared the debris, the lead rider unsheathing a sword that burst into flames. He hung off his saddle to angle the burning blade at the road in front of him. Gama gestured frantically at Xiy, trying to say GO! GO! GO! with his hands. Sluggishly, the bees lifted off of Xiy’s shoulders in a great buzzing swarm and floated out to the road. The front rider sent a tongue of flame in front of him, not noticing the swarm enveloping his fellows.
After a few panicked swats, the riders hunkered down and spurred their horses but too late; the bees were already landing in a thick carpet on the heads of the animals. First, one reared, catapulting the rider from its back. Another dived into the forest, a low-hanging branch catching its rider in the midsection and sweeping him from his saddle as his mount dashed on without him.
The first horse to react charged past the lead rider, leaping over his flame and charging up the hill, shedding bees in his wake. The leader whirled turned in his saddle, brandishing his fiery weapon, only for the swarm to dive on his helmet. A muffled scream filled the air as the soldier dropped his weapon and spurred the black stallion he rode. The animal reared, but the solider stayed on as it took off, hooves cracking through the remaining sticks and thundering up the hill.
“Pox pox pox pox!” Gama swore as he rushed up to Orchid. “Gimme the crossbow. She handed it over, and he spun and sighted on the soldier with a prayer. THWIP! The bolt buried itself the horse’s flank.
“Nice shot!” Chimon declared as the horse reared at the top of the hill, its rider too busy swatting at the bees as he plummeted from the saddle. The horse kicked out with both hooves before racing on without its rider.
Gama smiled weakly at his friend. “Yeah, that was exactly where I wanted that shot to go.”
“Simon says,” a gasp of breath, “that pretty good.”
Gama looked up to see Simon leading Grim and Glub. Simon’s tongue hung out of the side of his open jaw. Grim had the captured guard slung over his shoulder, strips of black cloth binding his hands and feet. “You good runners.”
“Yeah, well, when you have classes back to back on the other side of the Scripts Academy, you get some practice,” Chimon said.
“No time for that,” Gama snapped, bringing everyone’s attention to back to him. “They probably saw that from the gate; we’ve got to get gone now. We have to get around that hill and cross the road, then get back to camp.”
“What about Drosa?” Grim asked.
“Uhh.” The question didn’t surprise Gama, just that it been asked by Grim.
“I’ll wait for her!” Chimon said. “We can catch up.”
Chapter Eight
Mistakes are unavoidable on a ship where quarters are tight. While the lash is harsh, if it is used justly, it drains the pus of resentment from the crew and prevents the festering of the minds.
Admiral Madria
Where is it? I can smell it! But where is it? Yaki tore open the sixth crate, the wood splintering in her bare hands. Again, crystals shone that vibrant green of a crop crystal. Valuable, yes! But not the substance her stomach insisted on that she could smell everywhere! An hour of breathing in the sweet essence of gold had her guts so twisted, she feared her intestines were strangling her liver.
“Yaki! Slow her down. You’re going to scrape us on the rocks,” Ishe called out from above.
With a snarl, Yaki she slammed the crystal back down into its crate, not caring if it cracked. Lurching back to Lion’s little engine closet, she gave the relays a savage twist and then edged off a tad. That better do it. She seethed as she stepped back, fingers hooked like claws, a growl rolling through the scent-laden air.
Her eyes flicked over the contents of the cargo hold, the scattered crates all filled with not-gold. Where could it be! The thought snarled through her mind. She checked the nearest crate again, digging through layers of medical crystals. Nothing. Where could it be? she more whimpered to herself as sank to her knees and buried her face in her hands. So hungry.
In her mind’s eye, she watched herself from the outside, imagined what Ishe would think if she came down that ladder and witnessed this…this feral behavior. Yet that fear could not compete against the howling stomach as she pressed her lips together and began to take deep sniffs through her nose. Was it stronger closer to the deck? Each inhalation brought her nose lower, until Yaki had her nose pressed against the wood.
Yes.
Snuffling heavily, she swept her head back and forth across the timber, trying to detect any change in the scent. Stronger that direction. Her hand slipped in the still-tacky blood as she traced the scent toward the aft of the ship, crawling over the dead man’s bloating body. No more than meat now. No crates littered this portion of the ship. Yet the smell had grown in strength.
“Yaki! Ease it down a little more,” Ishe called down.
There! Yaki scrabbled at a little panel of wood, but her fingernails found no purchase, so she pried it up with her shortened sword. Something yellow and bright shone in the hole, and she snatched at it. It resisted. She turned her hand. A snap, a serial set of twa
ngs. It came free and Yaki shoved it into her mouth.
“Yaki!” Ishe’s voice boomed, unfiltered by the deck. Yaki froze like a startled cat who had grabbed one of the mistress’s chickens. She chewed on the thing in her mouth and it popped, spilling a half dozen flavors of metal into her mouth. “What are you doing on the floor?”
Sorting through the flavors, Yaki found gold to be a very minor component of the thing in her mouth. Not enough, not nearly enough to produce so much scent. She spat it out. A relay splitter. A globe that split the current of a power crystal into dozens of wires; each one would energize a separate liftwood plank.
The floor had begun to tilt, lowering her head and raising her bum. The relay probably funneled power to the back quarter of the ship.
“Something the matter?” Ishe’s boots hit the deck behind her.
Yaki stared at the relay, its surface studded with golden threads. Wires. Lion didn’t reek of a monumental amount of gold. The ship, in a display of wealth, had been wired with gold instead of copper. She’d have to rip apart a whole section to quell her stomach. Nine hells and pox on Yokoyama.
Hesitant steps toward her.
Yaki thrust half the relay in the air. “Broken,” she declared, hiding the other half that contained most of the gold filaments in her other hand. It would have to be enough to tide her over.
Worry and anger battled over Ishe’s expression. “Fix it later! We’re drifting away from the mountain. We need to start descending again.”
Yaki nodded.
“You need to tell me what’s going on with you! Soon as we land.” Ishe retreated back up to the top deck.
Popping the hidden half of the relay back in her mouth, Yaki went back to the engineering, worrying at the metal parts with her tongue. While her hands obeyed Ishe’s orders for power adjustments, Yaki went through a mental catalog of the components of an airship’s power grid, which ones used the most gold and which ones wouldn’t be missed. If House Yokoyamae placed everything usually made of copper on the ship with gold, then there should be enough for a little while. With a few components salvaged from Scale’s stolen skiff, it would add up. But how long would that last?
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