by Marty Chan
Ning Shu addressed the crimson men. “I vouch for these two.”
“Where is Amina?” Mr. Serenity asked.
“She led the hunters away from the pier just as they were trying to arrest these two men. She risked her safety for them, and they still don’t trust us.”
The soldiers glared at one another, murmuring. Zhengfu Zhe seemed to win. “If you already know where we are, then we best keep you near.”
Ehrich cocked his head to one side. “Let’s stop wasting time.”
The group navigated the crowded Gansevoort market, pushing past shoppers haggling with vegetable and meat peddlers. They wanted to avoid any more demon hunters. Ehrich knew Wilhelm’s squad would still be near, so he had to adopt another disguise. Using the soldiers’ bodies as makeshift dressing room screens, he drew lines on his face and donned a false beard to make himself appear much older than his fifteen years. He adjusted his new facial hair, then stepped out from behind the men and surveyed the crowd of market shoppers. He waved as he saw Amina pushing her way through the crowd and searching for him.
“Took you long enough,” Ehrich quipped.
“Saving your hide takes time,” Amina replied. “Best be careful. The hunters have been alerted, and they are combing the streets for us.”
“Good luck looking for us in this crowd,” Ning Shu said, waving at the gathering of titan-sized Dimensionals in the street.
Wu Bei grunted. “Now that your party is complete, can we move on to the business at hand?”
“Yes, we need to get back to your boat,” Ehrich said.
“How are we going to reach the pier?” Mr. Serenity asked. “Someone is bound to spot us.”
Wu Bei had an answer. “All we need is a boat. Any boat will do.”
He led the group south through the growing crowd of travellers who milled around the gate. Heated conversations sparked between the workers. Impatience was growing. The travellers needed to feed their families. The sentries stationed at the gate offered no sympathy, and Ehrich noted the ranks of the security forces had grown since the previous week.
At the entrance, a few of the travellers engaged the sentries in a pushing match. Tempers were boiling over. One sentry hauled a traveller by the hair. Two others rushed from the mob to protect the yelping green-skinned girl. Armed guards pummelled the defenseless travellers with clubs, batting them back away from the girl who was now howling in pain.
Ehrich wanted to rush over and stop the sentries, but Amina grabbed his arm. “This is not our fight, and this will give us cover to escape.”
He couldn’t tear his gaze away until Amina pulled him away.
Outside the gates of the Hudson River Tunnel Project, the workers surged ahead, begging for work, but the sentries repelled them. Need for employment kept the travellers from leaving the area. They pleaded their cases, some claiming they had not eaten anything for days. Others raged at the impassive sentries, blaming them for their current plight. Ehrich recognized the desperate expressions on the workers’ faces.
The sweltering summer heat caused Ehrich’s sore throat to grow worse. He teetered on his feet, trying to focus his gaze on something that wasn’t spinning. His mother had him by the hand as she strode through the rutted streets of Appleton to find a doctor. She glanced left, then right, unsure of which way to go. Eventually, she walked forward. Ehrich’s damp hand nearly slipped out of her grasp. He began to cough.
His mother waved at an onlooker. Having no command of English, she spewed Yiddish, asking the goateed man where to find the doctor’s office. The man shrugged and carried on. Ehrich’s mother approached a woman carrying an infant, but the woman brusquely shooed her away. “Your child is diseased. Get away from me.”
One after another, the people rejected the Yiddish woman who was only seeking help for her son. Ehrich wanted to stumble after his mother and pull her away from the indifferent citizens so that she wouldn’t embarrass herself any further. Waves of shame lapped against his scarlet face. His mother couldn’t speak the language of the people who surrounded her. Helpless against the indifference, all she could do was ask again and again in Yiddish for help. She seemed so weak, and they seemed so cold.
Ehrich rasped, “We need a doctor.”
But the man he spoke to recoiled as if Ehrich were a leper. Ehrich’s face burned hot as he tried to figure out what about him set him apart. Perhaps the best thing was to keep to themselves and not invite any more cold hostility. He grabbed his mother’s hand and pulled her away from the people who wouldn’t even give them the time of day.
The sentries at the gate displayed the same contempt Ehrich had witnessed in the bystanders who refused to help his mother. He wanted to do something to help the workers but he didn’t have what they needed. All he could do was move forward, trying to fight off the shame of ignoring the travellers’ plight with the thought that if the tunnel were reopened, Ba Tian’s forces would be able to access their army of exoskeletons and raze New York to the ground. Even Ning Shu couldn’t stop the generals once they had the machines. Ehrich understood that much firepower would certainly spur the generals to complete Ba Tian’s plans. Amina gripped his hand. He squeezed back.
Once they reached a pier near the southern end of the island, Wu Bei ushered the group down a plank to a small boat moored at the dock. Wu Bei helped Ning Shu into the boat, along with Mr. Serenity and Amina. Ehrich followed suit, under the ever-watchful eye of Zhengfu Zhe. They pushed off in their stolen craft toward the middle of the Hudson River.
The journey across the open waters of the Hudson tested Ehrich’s sea-worthiness. The boat rocked back and forth and up and down as the soldiers rowed away from the Statue of Liberty. Choppy waters batted the boat.
The craft sailed further north. Soon, they left the main shipping lanes and headed to a remote part of New York, where apartment buildings gave way to country estates. Not too far away, a low-hanging cloud appeared. Ning Shu had perched herself at the prow, carrying herself with the air of someone in charge. In the months following Hakeem’s death she had gradually distanced herself from the world. In the presence of the soldiers, however, she seemed to be right back in the center of life, commanding a royal air that even her friends found daunting.
On the other hand, Amina seemed edgy as they neared their destination. She flexed her hands opened and closed as she watched the soldiers rowing. Ehrich wondered if she was thinking of the attack on her home world. Perhaps these two men had even participated in the destruction that had forced Amina and Mr. Serenity to flee their home dimension. Ehrich nudged her knee with his. She shot him a glare. He shook his head. She slowly unclenched her fists.
The cloud rapidly drew closer. Had the crimson men found a new burst of strength? Then Ehrich realized the cloud was moving toward them. Wu Bei stowed his oars and stood up. He waved to the sky, but nothing happened. Several minutes passed without a single movement from above. Then, the wisps of cloud parted and revealed the barrel of a weapon turret aimed directly at the boat.
AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE RETURNS
On the choppy water of the Hudson River, Ehrich wanted to capsize the boat to escape the weapon aimed at them, but he’d need everyone’s help. A quick scan of the faraway shorelines of Manhattan and New Jersey eliminated the prospect of swimming to safety. He hoped Wu Bei would be able to keep the airship from firing on them. The flame-red man waved frantically at the cloud.
“It’s all right,” he yelled. “We have brought—”
The weapon’s barrel hiccupped once. A barbed metal circle struck the bottom of the boat right between Ehrich’s feet. Water began to seep into the boat from the puncture. A few more hits and the skiff would sink.
Ning Shu pulled Wu Bei down as she stood up and drew the jade tael from inside her emerald robes. She whipped the tael around the leather strap until it hummed. More projectiles rained down from the airship, but none hit home. The metal discs deflected harmlessly off the energy shield Ning Shu had created. The turret stopped, a
nd Ning Shu caught her jade tael. She flashed it up at the sky to reveal the symbols around the edges and the square hole in the middle.
A bead of sweat rolled down Ehrich’s cheek as he waited for the airship’s response. The turret might start firing again any second. Would Ning Shu have enough time to create the shield again? Minutes passed.
Then cables began to lower from the cloud. Ning Shu lowered her tael and sat down.
“I believe they received the message,” she announced smugly.
Once the metal cables were within reach, Zhengfu Zhe jumped up and grabbed them. He tapped Wu Bei on the shoulder, then jumped into the river with the line in one hand. He swam under the boat and handed the line to Wu Bei, who clipped the end to the original line. They repeated this process, creating a cradle for their stolen boat.
Once the lines were secured, Zhengfu Zhe climbed back into the craft while Wu Bei signalled the airship. The cables began to retract and tighten.
“Sit in the middle of the boat, and do not shift,” Wu Bei instructed. He positioned himself at the prow. Dripping wet, Zhengfu Zhe balanced the boat at the rear.
The boat rose from the river. Water poured off the sides. As the craft ascended, Ehrich picked out the merchant ships docked at the piers on either side of the river. From this bird’s eye view, he took in the Manhattan skyline and marvelled at the buildings crowded in amongst each other, almost looking as if they were jockeying for space. The skyline reminded him of the cramped travellers on Devil’s Island, standing elbow to elbow, waiting for their chance to enter the city.
The cloud had obscured most of the mammoth airship, but now that they were closer, Ehrich counted several dozen taut suspension cables, wrapped around the whale-shaped envelope from bow to stern. Bright red and yellow silk panels had been stitched together to fashion the massive balloon. Fins protruded from the rear of the ship, while a massive spinning propulsor at the rear of the gondola provided forward momentum. On either side of the craft, smaller whirling blades stabilized the airship.
Unlike other gondolas Ehrich had observed, this one was fashioned almost entirely from bamboo. The control car at the gondola’s head featured wide glass windows for the commander to pilot the craft. The gondola appeared to stand at least three storeys tall and extended into the envelope. Ehrich estimated the massive airship could carry at least a hundred and fifty passengers. It was much larger than any of the other gondolas Ehrich had come across, and he assumed the lighter bamboo allowed for more additions. Their boat ascended toward the open bay doors under the airship’s midsection.
“This is incredible,” Ehrich said. “Did your people design this, Ning Shu?”
The ruby-skinned girl pulled her black braided hair to the front, nervous. “No, this is not of my sector. How did you acquire this airship, Wu Bei?”
“We took it from the humans here.”
Ehrich wrinkled his nose. “I think we would have heard about an airship being stolen.”
“The craft came from the Orient. When the airship set course for China, a few of our soldiers stowed away and took over the ship. It will be two weeks before the airship is scheduled to arrive. When it doesn’t arrive, people will assume the ship crashed in the ocean.” Wu Bei explained.
The boat swayed as the stabilizing propulsors stirred the air around them.
Mr. Serenity’s face paled. “I’m going to be sick.”
“No sudden movements to the right or left,” Wu Bei warned. “If you must throw up, do it in the boat.”
“You’ll be fine,” Amina said, rubbing her friend’s back until he controlled his breathing. “Look up. It’s easier.”
As they neared the bottom of the gondola, Ehrich spotted a Chinese symbol on the hull of the envelope. Alongside it was the image of a pagoda. Several black boxes dangled from thick wires along the length of the envelope. The devices emitted a heavy fog that draped the craft.
As the boat neared the gondola, the whirring of a powerful winch filled the air. The cables coiled around several spools connected to a steam-powered motor that reeled in the boat. Their craft was the odd one out, compared to the sleek skiffs hanging from cables around the landing deck.
A crimson soldier wearing a bandolier of razor discs over a purple silk jacket and mauve flared trousers stood near a large control panel. He pulled a lever and the bamboo bay doors shuttered closed. Ba Tian’s soldiers, wearing similar purple uniforms, surrounded the craft. Each man held a metal disc at the ready.
General Xian stepped from the crowd. She was the only one unarmed, but she seemed to need no weapon to protect herself. An amazon of a woman, she stood at least two heads taller than Ehrich. Her jet-black hair was braided into one long queue. She wore a vibrant purple robe with an embroidered golden dragon snaking around her waist and over her shoulder. She placed both hands on her hips as she glared at Zhengfu Zhe and Wu Bei.
She snapped her fingers. “Did you hear that?”
They nodded.
“Intriguing. Nothing wrong with your hearing, and yet you disobeyed my orders.”
Ning Shu stepped forward. “General Xian, I can explain.”
She pulled out the jade tael and the armed soldiers bowed. Only General Xian remained upright, staring impassively at the girl in the emerald robe.
“General Ning Shu. The long lost prodigal daughter returns. You’ve been away so long, it would appear you’ve forgotten the protocol about outsiders.”
“I’m rather concerned about your lack of respect for the House of Qi,” Ning Shu retorted.
“Of course,” the amazon said, bowing slightly. “You are welcome onboard this vessel, but your companions are another matter.”
“They serve me, so they serve the House of Qi.”
“I’m sure you have your reasons to consort with their kind, but this is my airship and I dictate who can and cannot remain onboard. This is the protocol.”
“As long as I possess this,” Ning Shu held up the jade tael, “it is my airship, and the protocol is whatever I dictate.”
“General Ning Shu, when you joined the Council of the Arch Generals, I believe it was with the understanding that you wouldn’t use your stature as the daughter of Ba Tian to usurp the other generals. Are you here as a general or as your father’s daughter?”
“Both.”
“Then I would advise you as your father would. We do not trust anyone beyond the inner circle.”
“My father is not here.”
“All the more need to protect ourselves from outsiders,” Xian said.
The two women faced off against each other. Ehrich began to doubt their plan to get onboard the airship. If this encounter turned sour, the only way out involved a long drop to the Hudson River. He didn’t relish the option.
General Xian waved her arm, the wide sleeves of her purple robe billowing with the sweep of her hand. “Let us retire to the offices and resume our discussions.”
“Yes, that would be wise,” Ning Shu said.
General Xian clapped her hands, and eight soldiers jumped up and formed ranks behind Ehrich and the others. The general turned on the heels of her black flat shoes and led the group up the bamboo steps to the catwalk. They ascended the wooden steps and entered a narrow corridor. The sounds of the engine powering the propulsors grew louder as they walked to the rear of the ship. The layers of bamboo that formed the walls had been intricately lined up with one another so that even the knuckles of wood were in line. The ship builders had demonstrated not only their skills in aerodynamics but also their artistry.
The throbbing engines were almost deafening when they reached a section of the corridor that split into stairs leading up to the engine room and down to General Xian’s quarters. She walked down the bamboo steps and stopped at the second door on the right. She opened the door and ushered the group in while the soldiers stood guard outside.
Red and green silks draped along the walls, sheer enough to allow sunlight to pass through and bathe the room in a cheerful glow. A mah
ogany desk dominated the centre of the room. Jade trinkets of smiling Buddhas and Chinese lions adorned the desk and nearby shelves. Whoever inhabited the room before Xian’s forces stole the airship was a person of wealth and taste.
Ehrich barely noticed the décor, however. He was more focussed on the individual seated on a divan in the corner of the stately room.
Ning Shu’s eyes widened at the sight of the man in the raggedy black suit. “You break your own protocol by bringing this outsider onboard.”
Xian shook her head. “Though his appearance is different, he is Kifo, the assassin who serves your father.”
Ning Shu sized up the raggedy man in the stovetop hat. “I thought you were more thorough than this, General Xian. He doesn’t appear to be anything like the boy who served my father.”
“I assure you—this is Kifo.”
“How can you be sure?” Ning Shu asked.
“Yes-s-s. The proof. Perhap-s-s this-s-s might ass-ss-uage your fears-s-s.” Kifo reached into his pocket of his black sack jacket and retrieved a vivid purple and gold puzzle box. The intricate design of symmetrically arranged dragons ran up and down the edges of the cube.
“The enigma box,” Ning Shu said.
“Yes, the gift your father gave to Kifo as a symbol of his pledge of loyalty.”
“S-s-satis-s-sfied?
Ning Shu clenched her jaw so hard the muscles on her neck began to protrude. She wanted to lunge at the man who had killed Hakeem, but she would risk her friends’ safety in doing so. She couldn’t contradict the assassin without revealing she had been there and was responsible for sending her father into another dimension. Kifo could expose Ning Shu, but for reasons only known to him he elected to remain silent on the matter. Instead, the assassin stood up and cracked a crooked grin to reveal the yellowed teeth of the new body he possessed. The body once belonged to Ole Lukoje, an illegal Dimensional Ehrich had caught trying to steal the eyes of innocent New Yorkers. In the struggle, Ole Lukoje lost his right arm. During the attack on Devil’s Island, Ehrich had enlisted Ole Lukoje’s reluctant help. It appeared that the price the traveller paid was to become a puppet body for Kifo.
