Quillblade

by Ben Chandler

  Arthur stomped up the stairs and entered the crystal dome. It seemed he’d be staying too. Missy stared after him, wondering what had caused him to change his mind but too dazed to attempt another peek into his thoughts. She looked around at the rest of the crew, but they were all moving around the deck, either towards the bridge or below decks. None of them left the airship.

  Missy turned to her brother. There was no need to discuss what they would do. They already knew they had no choice. Hand in hand, they walked up to the rear hatch before parting ways. Lenis went down into the bowels of the airship while Missy climbed up to the bridge, feeling exhilarated and yet exposed, as if the Warlord himself was sneaking up behind her at that very moment.

  Lenis entered the engine room and immediately felt the Bestia’s restlessness. They knew something was up. Each of them had a unique power that made the airship function. Aeris would be the first to be set to work today, powering the engine that filled the room. It was a solid lump of steel that took up most of the small space. Copper pipes, gauges, dials and levers sprouted from it in what to an untrained eye must have looked like a haphazard mess. But Lenis knew the way of it. From inside the engine block a Bestia could channel its power into the machines, bringing the airship to life. The levers and gauges allowed Lenis to monitor and direct that power. A series of pipes no wider than his finger sent the masses of pressurised air Aeris generated into the wing balloons on either side of the vessel, allowing it to rise or fall.

  The pressurised air system was a relatively new invention that was slowly replacing the old combustion engines, which relied on flame Bestia and steam. The Hiryû still kept a flame Bestia on board, Ignis, but he was used mostly to power the cannons. Lenis had met Ignis in the factory he used to work in back in Blue Lake. It was shortly after their meeting that the twins had been transferred to airship work, and Lenis had requested to take Ignis along. Once a bond had formed between a Bestia and its keeper, it was better to keep them together. Their owners could get a better price for them.

  Lenis reached down and stroked Aeris’s head. A sort of calm had settled over him. The captain wanted to steal the airship, but he clearly had no idea how one functioned. If the Warlord was already on his way up the airdock, there was no way the engines could be started in time for them to get away. The captain’s ill-conceived plan would be over before it had even begun.

  Suddenly, a wave of dizziness washed over Lenis, and he heard Aeris mew as his vision blurred. Blue light bathed the engine room and words echoed through his head. Words he had heard before.

  I AM APSILLA. LADY OF RAIN AND BLUE DRAGON OF THE EAST. YOU MUST SAVE MY DAUGHTER.

  The blue light grew brighter, and then began to fade. An afterimage floated across Lenis’s vision. It was a dragon. His dream came back to him, sharp and clear, the same one he had been having for the past two nights. There was a Bestia out there calling for help. It wasn’t a dream at all. It was real.

  Lenis was moving before he realised it, before his vision had even cleared. A sense of urgency, stronger than anything that had ever driven him before, pushed him into action. Aeris was in his arms, and he placed her inside the engine block and closed the hatch. The Bestia’s eyes began to glow, and Lenis fiddled with one of the channelling levers. A crackling sound came from the engine and sparks appeared at the tips of Aeris’s fur. A lesser engineer would have started the engines at this point, but Lenis knew better. The power Aeris was shedding through her fur was only the overflow, a by-product of greater power building within. He’d have to hold off if he was going to get the engines started in time.

  A moment later Aeris blinked and Lenis began turning the great crank that would prepare the engines for the influx of her power. As the engine and the Bestia began pulsating in rhythm with each other, Lenis pulled the ignition lever, Aeris released her power, and the engines of the Hiryû came to life.

  Satisfied, Lenis ran an experienced eye over the gauges of the engine, opening and closing valves and shifting levers to ensure the energy levels were stable. In a few minutes, the airship would be ready to pull away from the airdock, but Lenis didn’t know if they would be ready before the Warlord boarded his new vessel.

  Missy felt the engines rumble to life. Through the crystal dome of the bridge she watched as the Warlord climbed the stairs of the airdock. Each level of the six-storey structure could dock three airships, one on each side, while the fourth side was taken up by a broad, shallow stairway designed for carrying cargo between the levels. As the Warlord’s airship, the Hiryû was docked at the highest point. The Warlord was taking his time climbing the stairs, but he was already on level four.

  The Warlord was easy to spot. He was short, even by Shinzôn standards, and his dark hair was a wild mane bordering his face. A procession of nobles followed along behind him, and the airdock workers lined up on either side of the stairs as he passed, bowing to the ground. They were dressed uniformly in the drab working gear of the Shinzôn serving class, brown or tan robes tied over a white loincloth. The Warlord and his nobles all wore black robes fringed in red with the red dragon motif emblazoned on their backs.

  Missy had been on airships most of her life, and she knew that their engines took a while to warm up before they could begin to move. As the Warlord approached the fifth level of the airdock, she wondered if her new captain knew that.

  Captain Shishi appeared calm for a man who was about to commit treason. ‘Mister Jackson, please plot a course to Heiligland.’

  Arthur was also tracking the Warlord’s progress. ‘Why Heiligland, Captain? It seems to me, if we’re looking for –’

  ‘We want to head towards Heiligland, Lord Knyght.’

  Missy sensed a hidden meaning to the captain’s answer, but she couldn’t work out what it was. Again, it seemed as though the captain and first officer were communicating in a way Missy couldn’t follow. Lord Knyght didn’t raise any further objections.

  ‘Miss Clemens,’ the captain said, jolting Missy out of her reverie, ‘perhaps you should let the airdock crew know we are readying for take-off and are awaiting the Warlord’s arrival with great eagerness.’

  ‘Yes, sir!’ Missy concentrated, sending her awareness down to the airdock’s office in the centre of the upper level. She relayed the captain’s message through one of their Bestia and waited for the reply. ‘The Warlord will be with us shortly, Captain,’ she translated.

  ‘I think we might have a problem, Captain.’ Lord Knyght had turned his attention to their own deck. Following his gaze, Missy saw the cursed swordsman, Gôshi Yami, standing alone in the open space between the holds.

  ‘I will handle this, Lord Knyght,’ the captain replied. ‘Please ready the airship for departure. The Warlord is indeed almost upon us.’

  Missy looked again and saw that the Warlord had reached the fifth level. The captain made his way towards the deck and, unable to resist the urge to witness the exchange, Missy sent her awareness out after him.

  ‘Sir Yami,’ Captain Shishi called from the top of the stairs leading to the bridge. ‘We have not been formally introduced. I am Captain Mayonaka Shishi of the Uchû no Shinpan-ryû.’

  The cursed swordsman regarded the captain for a moment. ‘Mayonaka Shishi, son of Mayonaka Haruichi and heir to Uchû domain. Master of the Cosmic Sword of Judgement style, Uchû no Shinpan-ryû. The hereditary fighting style of the Mayonaka clan.’

  ‘You are well informed. And you are?’

  ‘Yûrei no Gôshi Yami.’ The stranger crouched into a fighting stance, his hand going to his sword hilt. ‘Of the Eien no Kage-ryû.’

  ‘The Eternal Shadow style of the Yûrei clan?’

  The two men faced each other. The one who called himself Gôshi Yami stood with one leg forward, his right hand resting on his sword hilt. The captain remained on top of the stairs with his arms crossed inside his sleeves. ‘Shôgo no Assen Chi has told me you are bound to this airs
hip and its crew.’

  The strange man relaxed his stance. ‘You are correct. By Lord Shôgo’s command, I have sworn myself to the Hiryû. Do nothing to threaten this vessel or its crew and I will not cross swords with you.’

  ‘Very well. Please move below decks while we finish our preparations.’

  Yami remained motionless for a moment. ‘You believe I will reveal your plans to Lord Shôgo.’

  ‘Is he not your master?’

  ‘I have already told you.’ The swordsman turned to move towards the forward hatch. ‘The Hiryû is now my master.’

  ‘Captain!’ Andrea was leaning half out of the crow’s nest above them, her hands cupped around her mouth. ‘Lord Shôgo is almost at the sixth level!’

  Captain Shishi hurried back to the bridge, and Missy brought her awareness with him.

  Arthur turned towards the captain as he took his position next to the helmswoman. ‘Shall we wait until after the Warlord has launched the airship before we take action, Captain?’

  ‘That would be the sensible thing to do, Lord Knyght.’ The captain smiled at the first officer. ‘But we leave immediately.’ The corners of Arthur’s mouth turned down, but he didn’t contradict the captain. ‘Are the engines ready?’

  The first officer picked up the speech tube. ‘Master Clemens, is the engine ready for launch?’

  The sound of Lenis’s echoed reply sounded hollow through the speech tube. ‘Just about, sir.’

  ‘How long?’

  ‘A couple of minutes at least, sir.’

  The captain’s smile faded. ‘Master Clemens,’ he called, loud enough to be heard through the speech tube the first officer was holding, ‘tell me the moment the engines are ready.’

  ‘Yes, sir.’

  They waited in silence, each member of the crew watching the Warlord’s steady progress up the airdock. He had reached the stairs leading up to the sixth level. Missy risked a quick look around. Aside from Shin, Kenji, the captain and the first officer, there was an old Shinzôn man standing alone behind the logbook podium. That would make him some sort of records keeper, Missy supposed. She ran the crew listings through her mind and came up with two possible names that would fit. He was either Chô no Jinsei Hiroshi or Kami Tenjin.

  Missy looked back at the Warlord. He was halfway up the stairs to level six. The seconds seemed to drag by. Lord Shôgo’s steady progress seemed somehow unreal. He looked as though he was moving slowly, but it seemed he could move ten steps in the blink of an eye. Missy realised she was holding her breath and let it out, the sound of expelled air loud in the quiet bridge, audible over the soft rumblings of the warming engines. The captain gave a bark of laughter.

  The Warlord stepped onto the top level of the airdock. He would be on deck in less than a minute. He reached the airdock office, paused for a heartbeat to acknowledge the bows of the crew stationed there, and then moved on. He was six paces away from the gangplank leading up to the Hiryû’s deck. Five. Four.

  ‘Ready!’ Lenis shouted through the speech tube.

  The captain grabbed the tiller and swung it hard. The Hiryû lurched violently to starboard, causing those gathered on the airdock to duck as the portside wing balloon swept over their heads. Missy barely kept her seat. The others were thrown around. Missy craned her neck to look behind them. She could see the look on the Warlord’s face as he realised what Captain Shishi had done, what they had all done. He did not look happy.

  The nobles who had accompanied him during his climb staggered back to their feet. None of them seemed to know what to do. Not so the airdock officials, who were trying very hard to get Missy’s attention.

  ‘Captain,’ she said, concentrating on their messages, ‘the officials want to know what’s going on.’

  ‘Tell them we’re stealing the airship, Miss Clemens.’

  Missy took a deep breath and relayed the captain’s response through the officials’ Bestia. A moment later she saw someone run out of the office and approach the Warlord. The official bowed low to Lord Shôgo and then began waving towards the departing Hiryû. Missy saw the Warlord’s mouth move, but she had no way of knowing what he said. She was about to attempt to read his mind when the official darted back to his office, and Missy concentrated instead on the chatter of Bestia communication between the other airships docked at Itsû.

  They knew something was wrong. The launch had come too early, and they’d seen the gangplank fall. They wanted to know what they should do. The airdock official had reached his office and the order came through: pursue the Hiryû. Missy doubted the other captains could launch their airships fast enough to catch them. It would take them at least as long to start their engines as it had taken the Hiryû. Longer, if they were using old combustion engines. They might have just enough time to ...

  One of the airships suddenly pulled away from the airdock. Missy stared. Its engines must have already been primed and waiting.

  Arthur had seen it too. ‘The Warlord has launched another airship. We should prepare for battle.’

  The captain nodded and passed Shin the tiller. ‘I believe it is inevitable. Master Clemens, please load the forward cannon.’

  Missy’s mouth went dry. This was most definitely not what she had in mind when she had dreamt about stealing the airship. Why had the captain wanted to leave so early? Why hadn’t they just waited until the Warlord had finished his inspection and disembarked? What was the captain thinking? Missy tried to find out, but like last time his thoughts were hazy, as though he wasn’t thinking. It was almost as if he was intentionally shielding his thoughts, but that was impossible. No one knew Missy could read people’s minds. It wasn’t something normal Bestia communicators could do.

  Missy suddenly realised there might be something she could do, something other than trying to figure out why the captain had been so keen to flaunt the theft in the Warlord’s face. Most communicators could only project their message-images a few feet, which meant Bestia communication required two Bestia, one near the sender and another near the receiver. Missy was not a normal communicator. Not only was she telepathic, she could also send her mind over great distances, well beyond the range of most communicators.

  As the captain gave the order to come about, Missy sent her awareness out again. This time her mind flew past the Warlord and the scurrying airdock workers. She moved down the airdock, over the crowd gathered below to witness the launch of the Hiryû, and then sped towards the Warlord’s residence. It was as if she were physically flying over the rooftops and neatly paved streets of Itsû, over the black and red Shôgo buntings and the street vendors and the small parks. But she wasn’t really flying. She couldn’t feel the rush of air, or smell the pork sizzling on a nearby vendor’s cart. Her body was still back on the Hiryû, but her mind was whizzing through the city. She could sense the people and other creatures of Itsû as she passed them by, and she knew that if she concentrated she would be able to read their thoughts. But this wasn’t a sightseeing tour. She needed to find Iki in the grounds surrounding the Warlord’s residence.

  Lenis was already moving as the airship came about, his body rolling automatically with the sweep of the vessel beneath his feet. The Bestia hutch was open. Lenis rarely closed it, trusting his Bestia to stay put. They must have sensed his agitation, though, as the five that remained in the hutch, Ignis, Atrum, Aqua, Terra, and Lucis, were squirming around one another, making it difficult to lift Ignis out.

  The captain wanted the cannon loaded, which meant two things had happened. First, it meant they’d managed to steal the Hiryû. Second, it meant the Warlord had sent his other airships out after them. The Hiryû was vastly outnumbered, and their only real hope was to put as much distance between them and their pursuers as they could. Trying to fight would only get them killed, but it wasn’t in Lenis’s nature to question a direct order.

  Ignis squirmed in Lenis’s hands as he picked him up
. He was smaller than Aeris, his ears were more pointed and his tail was far shorter. Ignis had an affinity for fire and was wriggling so much Lenis had to hold his face close to the Bestia’s pointed head to make sure Ignis heard him.

  ‘The forward cannon, Ignis,’ Lenis said slowly. ‘The dragon figurehead, do you understand?’ The tiny creature paused in its fidgeting to lick him on the cheek. Ignis’s tongue felt like a tiny sliver of flame against his skin. ‘All right then, off you go.’

  Lenis lifted Ignis over his head and placed him in the tube above the hutch. The Bestia sped towards the bow and Lenis gave him time to reach the figurehead, then picked up the speech tube. ‘The cannon is loaded, Captain.’

  Moments later a woman’s voice echoed down through the tube. ‘I’ve got them in range, Captain.’

  ‘Thank you, Miss Florona,’ the captain replied. ‘Master Clemens, you may fire when ready.’

  Lenis reached up to pull a small cord next to the tube Ignis had run down, sending the signal to fire. He knew fighting wasn’t the answer, but now that they were engaged it would take a miracle to get them out of here. No, not a miracle. It would take a stunt, a really reckless one. Thankfully, reckless stunts were Lenis’s specialty. He moved towards the Bestia hutch again.

  Missy saw the ball of fire erupt from the Hiryû’s figurehead. It engulfed the forward part of the Shôgo airship and the wooden timbers caught instantly. Even inside the crystal dome, Missy could hear the cries of panic as the flames began to spread down the deck. Soon the fire would reach the balloons that kept the airship afloat. She hoped Iki would do as she promised, and that she would get here in time.

  ‘Bring her about again, Miss Shin,’ Captain Shishi said.

  Shin swung the tiller, more gently this time, and pointed the Hiryû north-east.

  ‘They’ve launched two more airships, Captain,’ Andrea called.