Nebula Awards Showcase 2017

by Julie E. Czerneda

  I caught pieces of his words on the wind.

  “It came right for her. The fledge stood out on the balcony with the lens of that scope glinting in the sun. Should have gobbled her up. Would have shot her myself, attracting a mouth to the tower like that.” He waved our neighbors away. “Don’t waste your goods on her. She’s not skyblessed. She’s bad luck. Should tie enough Laws on her that she’ll rattle when she moves.”

  The people of Densira did not listen. Elna scrambled to find places for everything they brought.

  She took the guard a cup of tea. “Luck was with her, Risen. The tower has luck now, because of Kirit. The skymouth fled.”

  The Singer cleared his throat loudly. Elna jostled the cup. Nearly spilled the tea. The Singer looked as if he wanted to have Elna swept from the tower and silenced.

  I tried to say something helpful, but my voice rasped in my throat.

  “Don’t try to speak, Kirit.” Elna returned to my side. The Singer glared again, then rose, muttering about needing a new sack of rainwater. He must have decided to keep me alive a little longer.

  She propped me up. Around me, the bone lanterns’ glow cast halos and small stars against the pale walls. The rugs and cushions of the place I’d shared with my mother since the tower rose were swathed in shadow.

  Elna wrapped me in a quilt, tucking the down-filled silk beneath me. Instead of warming, I shook harder. The Singer returned and held my wrist between his thumb and forefinger. He reached into his robe. Took out a small bag that smelled rich and dark. Metal glittered in the light.

  A moment later, he handed me a tiny cup filled with sharp-smelling liquid. It burned my throat as it went down, then warmed my chest and belly. It took me a moment to realize I wasn’t drinking rainwater from my usual bone cup. He’d given me a brass cup so old the etching was nearly worn away. It warmed in my hands as the glow crept up my arms. Calm followed warmth until I was able to focus on the room, the smell of chicory brewing, the sound of voices.

  Elna disappeared when the Singer glared at her a third time. He gave me a stern look. Waited for me to speak. I wished Ezarit sat beside me.

  “They think you are skyblessed,” he said when I did not speak on his cue.

  I blinked at the words and closed my eyes again. Skyblessed. Like the people in the songs, who escaped the clouds, or those who survived Lith.

  The Singer’s tone made it clear that he thought me nothing of the sort.

  “Your example will tempt people to risk themselves. We have Laws for a reason, Kirit. To keep the city safe.”

  I found that hard to argue. I sat up straighter. My head pounded. I looked around the empty tier, at the lashed shutters, anywhere but at the Singer standing before me, his hands folded into his robe.

  “You are old enough to understand duty to your tower. You know our history. Why we can never go back to disorder.”

  I nodded. This was why we sang. To remember.

  “Yet you are still part of a household. Your mother is still responsible for you. Even while she’s on a trading run.”

  He was right. She wouldn’t learn what I’d done until she flew close enough to the north quadrant for the gossip to catch up with her. I imagined her sipping tea at a stopover tower. Varu, perhaps. And hearing. What her face would look like as she tallied the damage to her reputation. To mine. Bile rose in my throat, despite the calming effect of whatever was in that cup.

  The Singer leaned close. “You know what you did.”

  I’d broken Laws. I knew that. I’d attracted a skymouth with my actions. A punishable offense. Worse, I drew a Singer’s attention, which could affect Densira. Councilman Vant, Sidra’s father, would sanction me, and my mother too, for my deeds.

  But that fell below the Singers’ jurisdiction. They only dealt with the big Laws. I sipped at the cup to conceal my confusion. Cut my losses. “I broke tower Laws.”

  He lowered his voice. “Not only that, you lived to tell about it. How did you do that, Kirit Densira?” His eyes bored into mine, his breath rich with spices. He looked like a hawk, looming over me.

  Elna was nowhere to be seen. I looked at my fingers, the soft pattern on the sleeve of my robe that Ezarit brought back from her last trip. Stall, my brain said. Someone would come.

  I met the Singer’s gaze. Hard as stone, those eyes.

  “I am waiting.” He spoke each word slowly, as if I wouldn’t understand otherwise.

  “I don’t know.”

  “Don’t know what?”

  “Why I am still alive.”

  “You’ve never been in skymouth migration before?”

  I shook my head. Never. Wasn’t that hard to believe. Everyone knew the northwest quadrant had been lucky.

  “What about the Spire? Never to a market there, nor for Allsuns?”

  Shaking my head repeatedly made the room spin. A low throb gripped the base of my skull. My voice rasped. “She said we’d go when we were both traders.”

  He frowned. Perhaps he thought I lied. “Don’t all citizens love to visit the Spire’s hanging markets at Allsuns, pick over the fine bone carvings, and watch the quadrant wingfights?”

  I shook my head. Not once. Ezarit never wanted to go, nor Elna. They avoided the Singers more than most. How could I convince him I told the truth?

  “Do you know what you’ve done?”

  I shook my head a third time, while pressure pounded my temples. I did not know, and I felt nauseated. I could see no way for me to get away from this Singer. Even seated, he loomed over me, tall and thin and sour-faced. Despite this, his hands were smooth, no deep lines marked his face beneath the tattoos; he might not have been much older than me.

  “I don’t know what you want me to say. I went on the balcony. A skymouth came. I screamed, and it—”

  I stopped speaking. I’d screamed. The skymouth had halted. Why? People who were close enough to a skymouth to scream died.

  The Singer’s gaze bored into mine. His frown deepened. He turned away from me and looked at the balcony. Then back to me.

  “There are those who can hear the city all the time. Not only when it roars. They learn to speak its language. You know that, right?”

  I bowed my head. “They become Singers. They make sure we continue to rise, instead of falling like Lith.” Our Magister, Florian, had taught us this long ago. If tower children became Singers, their families were rewarded with higher tiers; their towers with bridges. But the Singers themselves were family no longer. Tower no longer. They severed themselves from city life; enforced Laws even on those they once loved. Nat’s father, for instance. Though I’d been too young to see it, I’d heard stories. I imagined now a Laws-weighted figure thrown to the clouds. Arms and legs churning in place of missing wings. Failing. Falling. Tears pricked my eyes.

  This Singer took my arm and squeezed hard. I locked my teeth together to avoid crying out. His fingers pressed into my skin, dimpling pale rings around the pressure points. “Kirit Densira, daughter of Ezarit Densira, I place you under Spire fiat. If you reveal anything that I say now to anyone, you will be thrown down. If you fail to tell the truth, you will be thrown down. Do you understand?”

  My head throbbed worse than ever, and I leaned hard against his grip. “Yes.” Anything to get free of this man.

  “Some among the Singers can speak to monsters.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There are five people in the city who can stop a skymouth with a shout. All Singers. Except one.”

  He stared at me. He meant me. I was the fifth.

  ”Kirit.” He paused. “You are not skyblessed.”

  I bowed my head. I hadn’t thought so.

  He released a breath. Scent of garlic. “But you could be something more. Someone who helps to keep the city safe in its direst need.”

  As my mother did. I raised my eyebrows. “How?”

  “You must come into the Spire with me.”

  The way he said it, I knew he didn’t mean for a visit. I jerke
d backwards. Neck and shoulder muscles tensed into a rejection of him. And yet he held me. Tried to shake me out of it. No.

  I would not leave the towers. I would not go into the Spire. Not for anything.

  Traders flew the quadrants freely, making elegant deals. They connected the city, helped weave it together. Better still, traders were not always tied to a single tower and its fate; they saw the whole city, especially if they were very good, like Ezarit. That was what I wanted. What I would choose when I was able.

  I stalled. “I have already put my name in for the next wingtest.”

  His turn to shake his head. “That hardly matters. Come with me. Your mother will be well honored for your sacrifice. Your tower too.”

  Sacrifice? No. Not me. I would ply the winds and negotiate deals that let the towers help one another. I would be brave and smart and weave beads in my hair. I would not get locked in an obelisk of bone and secrets. I wouldn’t make small children cry, nor etch my face with silver tattoos.

  I yanked my arm away. Scrambled off the table, my knees wobbly, toes tingling. Two steps, and I hit the floor. I tried to crawl to the balcony, to get to Aunt Bisset’s, to get back to Elna.

  The Singer grabbed me up by the neck of my robe. His words were soft, his grip fierce. “You have broken the Laws of your tower. Endangered everyone here. Some think you’re skyblessed, but that will wear off. Others think you are a danger, unlucky.”

  “I am no danger!”

  “I will encourage these thoughts. What then? Soon the tower will grow past you. Your bad luck will sour your trades and your family’s status. You will be left behind. Or worse. You will be Densira’s pariah for every bad thing.”

  I saw my future as he drew it. The tower turned against me, against my mother. Ezarit, living within a cage of shame.

  “As a Singer, you will be respected and feared. Your mother and Elna and Nat will be forgiven your Lawsbreaks.”

  The household. He would punish Elna and Nat too. And Ezarit. For my decisions. I needed to bargain with this man. How did I do that? How would Ezarit have done it? I groped for memories of her trading stories, for how she would have turned him away. She would have tried to trade, to haggle. If she’d nothing to trade, she’d bluff.

  “I am too old to take.” I’d never heard of someone nearly at wingtest being taken by the Singers.

  “You are still a dependent in the eyes of your tower.”

  “In that case,” I said, resisting the urge to argue his point, “my mother would never permit this.” I was certain of that.

  “Your mother is not here. Won’t be back until nearly Allmoons.”

  “You can’t take me without her permission,” I said. “It says so in Laws.” And once I have my wingmark, Singer, I will be an apprentice. Able to decide my own path. Singers do not take apprentices from the city, except for egregious Lawsbreaks. I coughed to conceal my shudder at that possibility. Then I straightened. “Ezarit would bring down a storm on the Spire so great, you’d be begging the clouds to pull you back up.” I yanked my arm from his grip.

  The Singer smiled, all but his eyes. My skin crawled. “Singers are more powerful than traders, Kirit. Even Ezarit. No matter what your mother thinks.”

  I drew a deep breath. “I will not go with you.”

  The Singer straightened. “Very well. You would be unteachable at this age if you did not desire to become a Singer anyway.”

  I’d changed his mind. I couldn’t believe it. It felt too easy.

  “You will stay in Densira until the wingtest. Then we will talk again.” He rose and reached back to release his wings. He was leaving. Then he paused. Frowned. The tattoos on his cheeks and chin creased and buckled.

  “Of course,” he said, “you did break tower Law.” He drew a cord from his sleeve, tied with four bone chips. “The tower councilman has sent you, Elna, Nat, and your mother a message. Vant is of the opinion, which I have reinforced, that you are in no way skyblessed, no way lucky. That the guard must have driven away the skymouth with noise and arrows. That you must be censured severely to avoid future danger to the tower.”

  I took the chips. Freshly carved. Approved by Councilman Vant. Two were thin, light: Nat’s and mine. We were assigned hard labor, cleaning four tiers downtower.

  I gasped. That could take well past the wingtest to finish.

  Heavier still were Elna’s and Ezarit’s chips. They felt thick. Not the thickest, I knew, but still true Laws chips. Permanent, unless Ezarit could bargain with Vant so that he let her untie them.

  As promised, they were punished for my deeds. For both the Lawsbreak and for refusing the Singer. Nat and I could miss the wingtest. We would certainly miss the last flight classes, when the Magister did his most intensive review. I could lose my chance at becoming an apprentice this year. Perhaps forever.

  My head ached, and I tried hard to swallow. I knew I could have been thrown down for endangering the tower. But censure was bad too. Everything was wrong now.

  And not just for me. I held Elna’s, Nat’s, and my mother’s fates in my hand.

  The Singer raised his eyebrows. Would I change my mind? Would I give in and go with him?

  I stared back at him. Swallowed. Shook my head. Densira seemed to fall silent as we stared each other down.

  “My name is Wik. Remember it,” he said. “I will find you at Allmoons, Kirit Densira. By then, you will want to come with me.”

  Trapped behind walls. Gray wings and robes, silver tattoos. Lawsbreakers thrown down, arms flailing. No family. No tower but the Spire.

  I would find a way to avoid that. I had to.

  * * *

  The sound of Elna and Nat returning startled the Singer. He swept from our quarters, unfurling his wings as he crossed to the balcony. Nat dodged left to avoid being struck.

  I walked unsteadily to greet them, waving my hand to dissuade Elna from bowing in custom.

  Shading my eyes against the sunset, I watched the Singer’s silhouette shrink as the breeze carried him away. He soared towards the city’s center, towards the Spire.

  My shoulders dropped. I sank down to rest on my mother’s stool. Nat came to stand by me. “I’m sorry,” he murmured. “For locking you out.”

  I looked up at him. Wished I had words. But anything I said could reveal me, break the Singer’s fiat, and endanger Nat and Elna even more. They had enough trouble coming because of me.

  I held out the markers, with their sentences on them.

  Elna read hers and sucked in her breath. Then she read Nat’s and mine, saw they were blessedly temporary. Her eyes watered. “Serves you right,” she said. But she heaved the words at us with such relief, I knew she’d been afraid.

  I did not want to think of Naton, Nat’s father, now. But I was sure Elna thought of the bone markers she’d held the day Naton was thrown down. A skein of Treason Laws, making him first chosen for Conclave, the ritual to appease the city.

  Those chips were the heaviest the Singers dispensed.

  Ours were much lighter. Tower Laws. Warnings. We would not have to wear them forever.

  After he read his chip, Nat’s face was a puzzle. “Why do I get punished for what Kirit did?”

  Because I would not sacrifice myself for you, Nat. Because I would not go with the Singer, you are punished. I opened my mouth to tell him. To say I was sorry.

  But Elna turned on him. “Oh, you’re not innocent. You stood by and watched.” Her look stopped him cold. He glanced at me from under his lids instead. She huffed and began piling foods from the offerings into a basket. “Might as well get packed up, then. The council will be up.”

  “Packed?” I couldn’t fathom why.

  “They’ll want you two as low as they can send you,” Elna said. “Closer to your duties, but also much more shameful, isn’t it? So they’ll move you down, to my tier.”

  ABOUT THE KATE WILHELM SOLSTICE AWARD

  Among the changes SFWA made in 2016 was to rename the Solstice Award to the Kate Wilhe
lm Solstice Award. It was felt that doing so acknowledged the important role that Ms. Wilhelm has played not just in SFWA’s history, but overall in the field of speculative fiction.

  This decision also brought the award’s name more in line with the naming of other SFWA awards, such as the Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation, the Andre Norton Award for Outstanding Young Adult Science Fiction, and the Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award.

  Created in 2008 and given at the discretion of the SFWA President and Board, the award is for individuals who have had a significant impact on the science fiction or fantasy landscape, and is particularly intended for those who have consistently made a major positive difference within the speculative fiction field, much like its namesake.

  Sir Terry Pratchett (28 April 1948–12 March 2015) has been named the recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. “In his long career, Sir Terry used humor and satire to entertain and educate, becoming one of the best-selling British authors of the twentieth century. His work has inspired numerous authors and readers. Pratchett has donated his time and money to orangutan conservation efforts and Alzheimer’s research. Pratchett was knighted by Queen Elizabeth for his service to Literature in 2009.” Kathryn Baker for SFWA.

  SFWA President Cat Rambo wrote, “I deeply regret Sir Terry’s untimely passing, and my inability to give him the award in person. He’s shaped the genre in ways that will resonate for centuries.”

  I HAVE READ THEM ALL, NOW

  MICHELLE SAGARA

  Michelle’s author bio was written with care, thought, and incredible attention to detail. Unfortunately, while reading a fantasy novel, she folded it in half and stuck it in the book as a bookmark, and she hasn’t been able to find it. Her house is also full of books, and sadly, completely lacking in shelf-space, which gives the entire place the untidy look of an accident waiting to happen.

  Michelle writes as Michelle West, Michelle Sagara, and has been published as Michelle Sagara West. She is married to the world’s best husband, and they live with their two sons.