Cloud Lands Saga Box Set Books 1-3

by Katie Pottle

  “Hurry, they’re coming!”

  In a mad scramble, all three boys wiggled between the net, and Cadin felt the back of his neck touch one of the wires in his haste. Alarms went off everywhere, and someone behind them shouted in a panicked voice, “They’re after the Bridgestone!”

  Cadin slid through the rest of the way and ran toward the base of a flyway with the others only to hear Vincent curse, and felt the blood drain from his face—this flyway was incredibly steep and wide, shaped like a large, flat slide that curved around the cylindrical building. There was no way that they could shimmy up to the window. Behind them, Cadin could hear adults reaching the netted entrance. Cadin was next to Xeno, trying to climb up the ridiculously smooth flyway when they heard wings ahead of them.

  Flying towards them, and angled down at what Cadin recognized as an attack position was a fully armored angel, wielding a spear. Not good thought Cadin as he slid down the short distance that he had crawled up. Positioning himself in front of Vincent and Xeno, Cadin put his hands up in a surrendering posture, but took a ready stance in case the angel continued his attack and he needed to jump out of the way and drag the others with him. In as loud of a voice as he could muster, Cadin shouted the only thing that came to mind as the armored angel shot towards them.

  “Stop!”

  To Cadin’s utter astonishment, the angel stopped his attack at once, almost so quickly that Cadin wondered if the angel hadn’t already begun to stop before he had shouted. Again surprising him, Cadin heard the angel laughing from behind his ornate helmet.

  Still flying, but hovering in place rather than propelling forward to attack, the angel took off his helmet and tucked it under his spear-wielding arm, revealing black hair with silver streaks and powerful shoulders. His grey eyes focused on Cadin as he laughed again and spoke. “You didn’t think that I was going to kill children, did you?”

  The angel’s eyes shifted from Cadin to Xeno to Vincent and back to Cadin again, his gaze dropping to Cadin’s chest. The angel landed, somehow not sliding down, and started his loudest laugh yet. A yell came from behind the netting, demanding to know what was happening.

  “I have everything under control,” the armored angel answered quietly, but with a huge amount of authority behind the words.

  “Do you have them? Did they get anything? Do you need back up?” Cadin was sure that this voice was that of the bald, red-faced man.

  The armored angel chose to ignore any further questions and spoke instead to Cadin. “You must be Cadin, Talvarian’s boy.”

  Cadin was at an utter loss for words.

  “What are three fine young lads such as you doing breaking into Glade Palace?” The angel asked casually.

  From behind them, Cadin heard the red-faced man again. “They’re dirty thieves, obviously. Lock them up!”

  “Oh, do shut up, Ruben.” Nothing more was said from behind them, but there was some mad sputtering.

  Cadin decided that escape was no longer an option and this man did not seem inclined to hurt them, so he relaxed his stance and asked, “How do you know who I am?”

  “It was your fine medallion that gave you away.”

  Cadin reached for his medallion as the angel continued. “I would recognize Talvarian’s work anywhere, because he made the only piece that I have ever chosen worthy to meld to myself,” the angel said while pointing to his right forearm guard. Cadin looked and saw that it was made from more than one cloud-metal. There were no imperfections that marred the surface, and along either edge, Cadin saw small, inlaid cloud-stones.

  “Of course, it also helped that your father and I talked about you just earlier today while we were catching up. I had hoped to meet you before my visit ended; however, I must admit that I didn’t expect our meeting to happen in quite this fashion.”

  Cadin looked down as he blushed with harsh embarrassment. What would his father think of this? Certainly, he was in big trouble.

  “Sir, may I ask who you are?”

  “You may, if you answer me first. Why have you broken into Glade Palace?”

  Cadin couldn’t see the harm in answering, as it certainly wasn’t to steal anything. “We simply wanted to see what was inside of such a cool-looking place. We figured that there had to be some Earth treasure in the top room.”

  The angel gave a little chuckle. “I see. As that is the case, your punishment is outside of my hands. You will be turned over to Mr. Ruben and the local authorities after I give him my evaluation of the Glade Palace security. I have some suggestions, as you might imagine.

  “As per our agreement,” he said as he walked towards them, his wings still expanded for balance on the slope. Vincent and Xeno took a step back as he approached, but Cadin stayed his ground. Reaching out his hand, he said, “I am Master Sanjen of the Calvarian Core, born on Galen.”

  Oh, crap! Master Sanjen, the military leader of the entire Core.

  “I can’t believe it, Cadin. I can’t believe you would jeopardize your future like this!” Cadin’s dad was pacing back and forth in the living room. His mom was sitting silently off to the side, and Cadin was sitting in the middle of the room holding his head down, feeling dejected. He had never seen his father so upset.

  “And to meet Master Sanjen this way!” Tal half laughed at this, though Cadin knew it was not a funny laugh. “When he comes back in here, you had better…had better… I don’t even know what.” Tal finished his last sentence with shame etching his face, looking at Cadin’s mother for help. Sara seemed to be in shock at what her only son had done, and was unable to say anything.

  Instead of looking into his parents’ faces, Cadin looked out front to where Master Sanjen was saying goodbye to the red-faced Rubin. Cadin didn’t much care for Rubin, but was thrilled that he had agreed after Master Sanjen’s heavy persuasion not to press charges, and settle for community service. Cadin would not be spending his community service time with Rubin at Glade Palace (Rubin had refused to let thieves work there), but instead would be working at the Town Hall in the Sanitation Department.

  Master Sanjen was shaking Rubin’s hand. He doesn’t act like a Master of the Core, Cadin thought while he watched. He is just too cool, and laughs too much. But then Cadin thought back to the flyway and how he had been charging them. He was certainly intimidating then. “A commanding presence” is what Tal had once said of Master Sanjen. Just then, Master Sanjen had turned and was looking right at Cadin. Cadin knew that he should look down out of respect and shame at having broken into Glade Palace, but he felt held by his gaze and fascinated by this powerful angel. Cadin hadn’t noticed Master Sanjen’s Aura before that moment, but was a little shocked to realize that it was green. Cadin hadn’t thought about what color Aura the leader of the Core would have had, but he did not expect the color that he had seen every day of his life.

  Master Sanjen smiled as he walked back through the door towards Cadin, Tal and Sara. “Well, now that we have that all straightened out, Talvarian, I was wondering if we could continue our talk about the new protection for the Core?” Master Sanjen asked. Cadin was surprised that Master Sanjen was so ready to drop the issue of Cadin’s break in to the Glade Palace, and just as hopeful that his parents would follow Master Sanjen’s lead. Looking at their faces, Cadin could tell that his mom was willing to drop it for now, but his dad was obviously conflicted about releasing the subject so easily. Cadin saw the instant excitement light up his dad’s face of the idea of talking about armor with the leader of the Core, instantly followed by a furrow.

  Tal looked back and forth between Cadin and Master Sanjen, occasionally looking at Sara as if for some help. Cadin thought he saw his mom give the tiniest of smiles to his dad.

  “Oh, alright,” Tal said with a defeated huff. “We are finished with the Glade Palace incident for now.” he finished, looking directly at Cadin.

  Cadin was so relieved that he jumped up and gave his dad a hug. Tal hugged him back warmly, but still had a firm voice when he continued. “For no
w, you need to go up to your room and study, while your mom and I talk to Master Sanjen.”

  Cadin walked out of sight and slowed his pace as he heard his dad ask in a low whisper, "Any updates?"

  "Yes," Master Sanjen's deep timber rolled up the stairs. "Unfortunately, what we feared had been confirmed.”

  Cadin heard his mom gasp and his dad moan. He couldn't help but slow to a cloud-worm pace as Master Sanjen continued. "I know you said you can't re-enlist in the Core and I respect that. However, I would like to commission your innovative metal work." There was a long pause and Cadin almost missed the last bit as he reached his room. "We are going to need better armor."

  CHAPTER SIX

  New Arrival

  The rest of the weekend drug out as Cadin did chore after chore.

  “What’s this?” Cadin asked his mom as he cleaned out a rarely used cabinet.

  Sara glanced over. “Gravy boat, I think. Though the last time I used it was to hold decorative apples.”

  “Give away pile?”

  “Sure. I don’t know how to make gravy anyway.”

  He didn't mention anything about the conversation he overheard to his parents and what had his parents and the Master of the Core worried. He tucked the information away to approach at the right moment, which was not while he was ‘extremely grounded’.

  Monday morning finally rolled around. He tripped over his shoes as he raced toward the double doored entrance to school. He was not early, as he had hoped to have a chance to talk to the others. He was guessing that Lep was freaking out a bit, even though he had not even been caught. He is probably all paranoid thinking that they are going to come for him at any moment and take him away to the Core Chamber, Cadin thought to himself with a smile.

  When they were caught at Glade Palace, Cadin, Xeno and Vincent were all questioned about who the other two boys were that had escaped. They had insisted that it was only the three of them and that other kids may have been playing the “touch the gate” game at the same time. Cadin knew that some kids made a game out of seeing who could run up the closest to the exterior gate of Glade Palace without getting caught. Even though Master Sanjen looked questioningly at Cadin when he showed him how they had gotten in, no further questions were asked about the ‘other boys.’

  The halls were nearly clear, and Cadin ran to get to the Dragon’s Den to avoid being late. Along the way, Cadin thought that a few of the kids in the hall pointed at him as they whispered to their neighbors, but he was too late to worry about it. Bursting through the door, Cadin felt self-conscious as the whole class turned to look at him. Both Xeno and Vincent were standing at the front of the classroom, looking quite sheepish.

  “Ah,” Instructor Kade said. “So nice of you to join us in time for today’s announcements, the second of which concerns you and your cohorts. Please go and stand with them until we get to you.”

  He quickly crossed the room without looking at any of his classmates. He hadn’t expected punishment from the school as well as from the Core and from his parents.

  “Settle down, everyone,” Instructor Kade said firmly as the class had erupted in whispers at Cadin’s entrance. “Our first announcement, as I am sure you all have already noticed, involves a new student joining our ranks all the way from the Lance Commons.”

  Cadin’s head snapped up and fell upon a pretty girl with glacier-blue eyes. A half-smile played across her smooth skin as she stared right at Cadin. His face felt flushed and he doubted that his dark complexion hid that from the newcomer.

  He was shocked that he had not noticed the new girl immediately upon entering the room; not because she was new or pretty or even because she had obviously been staring at him before he had even looked up. It was the fact that she was the only other person in this room beside Instructor Kade who had an Aura. Not only did this girl have a bright light surrounding her, but it was yellow.

  Instructor Kade called the girl up to introduce herself to the class. He had missed the name as she half ran and half jumped to the front of the classroom, stopping on the other side of Instructor Kade from where Cadin stood. The class had given her a courteous though slightly lacking applause, Cadin guessed because she was so different and nobody really knew what to think of her.

  “Hello everyone and thank you for welcoming me here to Glade,” the girl said excitedly. Cadin noticed that half-hearted welcome applause had not ruffled her genuine thank you. “I have lived on the Lance Commons in the Lavine Quad my whole life, but I have traveled with my dad a lot to places like Lark, Carpathia, Central and even a few fringe cloud-lands.” The classroom erupted into excitement, few young angels without wings got to travel. The girl answered some of the questions that people had been asking of each other rather than directly to her without a pause.

  “I have been able to travel so much because of my dad’s job. He invented a distance travel cart that uses the energy from the sun to propel it. He has all sorts of different types that can help to carry stuff over long distances and there are family carts so that adults can more easily and safely fly with kids. We also sell basic fly gear.

  “We are here because my dad wanted to expand his business to the Guard Quad. He found a spot for his shop just outside of town near the Glade Palace,” she gave a quick glance to Cadin’s trio before continuing. “We are in the middle of building a new docking station for the transports and should be open for business in a couple of weeks.”

  “Excellent,” said Instructor Kade before the class could start talking too much, “I am sure that the people of Glade will be happy to have the shop and your family here. Before we go on, why don’t you tell us just a little bit about yourself, such as what you liked to do best in Lance.”

  “Oh,” she said happily, “I like archery contests.” The whole class grumbled a bit—the Guard Quad had notoriously bad showings in distance and accuracy contests, and archery was the most popular distance game.

  Without taking into consideration the mood of the class, she continued happily. “I was quite upset this morning to come here and find out that this school doesn’t have an archery club at all!” Her face was so stricken that Cadin had to giggle a little bit.

  Instructor Kade gave him a hard look and Cadin quickly turned it into a cough. It wasn’t that Cadin didn’t like the idea of an archery club—it would be great for the overall training improvement; he just found it funny that someone new would be so open about how upset she was to this group that obviously cared very little for archery.

  “So,” the girl continued, her face beaming with excitement, “I talked to Headmaster Tripharian this morning to get permission to start our very own Glade Commons Archery Club!” Apparently expecting applause, the girl’s shoulders slumped a little bit when all she got were blank stares, at which point Instructor Kade stepped up.

  “Yes, I have agreed to be the supporting instructor for the club as I think that it is a great idea and opportunity for everyone here. Unfortunately, we can’t start the club today as requested due to last minute scheduling conflicts which we will talk about next.” Cadin got a deep sinking feeling. “However, we will have an initial club meeting tomorrow before lunch. The Archery Club is optional; however, I strongly encourage each of you to attend.”

  “Now, why don’t we all give Sun a welcoming hand?”

  Cadin clapped a little harder than everyone else, thinking that Sun was a fitting name for this happy girl with a yellow Aura.

  “Can we ask Sun a couple of questions before we move on?” Lexi, the confident girl with pink eyes asked.

  “Yes, if Sun doesn’t mind,” Instructor Kade said at the same time that Sun had answered, “Of course.”

  “Well,” Lexi started out, “do all angels from Lance get their Auras at a young age?”

  Good question, Cadin thought. He had been wondering about her Aura too.

  “Actually, no,” Sun said with a thoughtful look on her face. “Angels on Lance usually get Auras around the middle of their first year in h
igh school. I got my Aura over a year ago, which shocked everybody. The only reason that anyone could really think of for it showing so early is that I started competitive archery when I was very young.

  “Most kids can’t focus that early, but it just always felt right to me. The more I practiced, the more I could feel my energy rising to the surface. Then the night before the Lance Archery Competition, it felt like all of my energy just exploded beyond my body. I didn’t know that it was my Aura surfacing, and it took me at least an hour to understand what had happened. I was almost disqualified from the tournament because we were so late, and then when we got there some of the judges didn’t believe my age. Well, we got everything worked out, and that was the first time that I won the Champion Title.”

  “Wow,” Cadin said.

  When she turned towards him, Cadin realized that he had said it out loud. She gave him a quick smile before looking back at the class.

  “Any more questions?”

  She seemed to have shocked the room into silence, and though Lexi looked like she had plenty of questions tumbling around in her head, she kept quiet.

  “Well, thank you, Sun and welcome again to the Dire Dragons,” Instructor Kade said, emphasizing the team name, which inspired the largest applause of the day so far. “Make sure and introduce yourself to Sun when you each get the opportunity. Now moving on to today’s schedule change and the reason for it—boys will you please step up.” Instructor Kade motioned Vincent, Xeno and Cadin forward.

  Here it comes, thought Cadin.

  “As I am sure many of you have already heard these three boys were caught in an illegal action this weekend.” The tension in the room was tangible.

  “Because of this breach, there will be no free time before lunch today, as the entire school will come together for triple exercises.”

  Eh! School exercises were not done often, and they were usually to make a point. The worst one that Cadin attended was in middle school. Everyone was brought together to do double exercises because someone had vandalized the Headmaster's office, and stole her personal cloud-gaiter trapping gear. Triples sound bad.