by Ben Chandler
‘You are not to attack anyone in this city.’
There was another pause. ‘And if they attack first?’
‘We cannot hope to win our freedom through force,’ the captain said. ‘We will be relying on guile to escape Asheim. If anyone attacks us, I expect you to run away.’
‘Never!’ the Kystian bellowed, straining against the chains that bound him. ‘I will never disgrace myself by committing such a cowardly act!’
‘Then you will stay in your cell.’
There was yet another period of silence. ‘Is that the only condition?’
‘You are to submit to myself or to Lord Knyght as your Lords and superiors.’
‘Very well. I trust these two ignoble conditions will be sufficient?’
‘You agree to abide by them?’
‘I do.’
Arthur stepped into the cell. ‘Do you swear it? By your honour and your liege, do you give your word?’
This time Gawayn was quiet for so long Lenis thought he wasn’t going to answer. Eventually, he said, ‘I swear, by my Life, my Love, and my Lord, that I will honour the conditions you have set for my release. May my life be forfeit if I dishonour my vow and eternal disgrace and damnation be visited on me and my line for all of eternity.’
Arthur turned to the captain. ‘That’s as strong an oath as there is, but how are we going to get him out of those chains?’
Namei tugged on his sleeve. ‘Try these.’ She held up a thick ring full of keys.
The captain took them from her as Arthur asked, ‘Where did you get those?’
Namei’s face flushed slightly. ‘I followed the princess down the hall. There’s a room full of unconscious guards and the keys were on a table.’
‘I wonder why the princess didn’t use them,’ Missy said.
‘Maybe she likes destroying walls?’ Namei offered.
The captain unlocked Gawayn’s chains, and the Kystian strode out into the hall. ‘Come,’ he said, turning back to the captain, ‘let us leave this Demon-plagued city of corruption and return to our vessel. The princess needs our help.’
Arthur and the captain exchanged glances behind the man’s back. ‘The princess?’
‘She freed us so that we would help her flee this vile city.’ The Kystian pushed past everyone. ‘It is a warrior’s duty to serve those of royal blood.’
The captain turned to Arthur. ‘It does seem we are no longer welcome in Asheim.’
Arthur frowned after Gawayn’s retreating back. ‘What about the manuscript?’
‘I believe our best course of action is to follow Karasu when he leaves the city. He may lead us to Seisui’s egg, and he has the stones we need to unlock its power.’
Lenis gripped Namei and Missy’s hands and followed the rest of the crew down the hallway. They reached the chamber Namei had told them about and found their confiscated equipment bundled up in a corner next to a pile of unmoving bodies. The princess Anastasis had obviously used her hammer to clear the way of any impediments, be they locked doors or jailers. In short order the crew found their way out of the prison and onto the streets of Asheim.
The thoroughfares and laneways around the prison were vastly different from those of the upper levels, which had been full of bright colours and rejoicing citizens. Fog clouded everything here and, though Lenis knew it had to be caused in part by the Wastelands below them, he hoped they were breathing in ordinary vapour and not tainted miasma. The buildings that could be seen in the gloom were all of thick stone. Their wooden doors and window shutters had long since begun to rot in the soggy air and hung now at miserable angles. The few people they encountered were wrapped in rags that looked no less wasted, and they scurried away from the crew.
‘Does anyone know how to reach the upper levels?’ Hiroshi’s voice was muffled by the damp air.
‘I believe I do.’ Kenji’s voice came out of the fog in front of them. Lenis was relieved to hear it. ‘Though a fine mess you’ve made of things,’ he added as his form slowly materialised. The navigator was wrapped in the same clothing that the denizens of the lower city wore.
The captain stepped up to him. ‘Have you heard from the others?’
‘They’re fine.’ Kenji shook his head. ‘Shin’s none too happy, but Andrea and I had fun.’
Arthur’s scowl was etched even deeper than usual. ‘How did you escape the Ostians?’
Kenji looked the first officer up and down. ‘Practice.’
‘I’m sure it will make for an entertaining story,’ the captain interjected, ‘but where are the others?’
‘Level twelve, getting acquainted with an old friend of mine. She’s been very helpful and knows the city. She’s going to take the others up to the airdock on level fifteen.’
Missy still held Lenis’s hand. ‘Which level is the Hiryû on?’
‘Twenty-five.’
‘Then why are the others going to fifteen?’
‘To meet up with the rest of you.’
‘Stop being oblique,’ Arthur snapped. ‘What’s your plan?’
Kenji sighed. ‘We’d better get off the street.’ He led them to a boarded-up building, kicked the rotting door to pieces, and ushered them all inside. ‘We won’t all be able to sneak up to the royal airdock.’ He kept his voice low and his eye on the gaping doorway. ‘Most of you are going to hide on level fifteen while the captain, Lenis and I fetch the Hiryû.’
‘The Ostian guards are going to be all over the airship as soon as it’s moving,’ Arthur pointed out. ‘There isn’t time to start the engines, and even if there is, how are you going to fly back for the rest of us through the Ostians’ forces?’
The navigator grinned. ‘We aren’t going to fly away from the airdock. We’re going to fall.’
‘Fall!’ Several of the crew shouted at once.
Kenji waved his hands at them. ‘Keep it down! We’re going to drop to about level fifteen, I’d say, though we might fall a bit further than that. Certainly no lower than thirteen.’ He looked around at the stunned faces surrounding him. ‘I’ve done all the calculations. Level fifteen should be just about right.’
Lenis’s mind was churning away. ‘He’s right.’ Everyone turned to him. ‘At least, I think so. If we detach from the airdock and start the engines at the same time we should – taking into account rate of descent and the time it takes to power up – should have the engines going by the time we reach level fifteen, assuming all the levels are about the same height, there aren’t any strong winds, and there aren’t any airships directly below us.’
‘They are, the same height that is, and the skies are clear and the winds are minimal.’ Kenji smiled broadly. ‘I told you, I’ve worked it all out.’
‘Isn’t there a risk we’ll damage the Hiryû again?’ Arthur asked. ‘Back in Yukitoshi –’
‘No, it should be all right.’ Lenis was warming to the idea. ‘This isn’t like Yukitoshi at all. We’re a lot higher, so we can afford to lose a lot more altitude, and the balloons are already filled, so we won’t be falling anywhere near as fast as we did back then. The weather’s a lot better this time, too, so we don’t have to worry about heating up frozen machinery. We just pitch the Hiryû into a dive and then level out once Aeris gets the engines going. This should work.’
Arthur clearly wasn’t convinced. ‘I’m hearing the word “should” more than I’d like.’
Namei squeezed Lenis’s other hand. ‘Lenis, are you sure about this?’
Lenis nodded. ‘I know it sounds crazy, but honestly, it isn’t. I’ve actually done something like this before. You remember,’ he turned to his sister, ‘that time back home, for Master Gorman?’
Missy groaned. ‘ For Master Gorman? Don’t you mean to Master Gorman?’
‘What happened?’ Namei asked.
Missy rolled her eyes at her brother and then turned to the others. ‘Master Gorman was the first person to buy us for airship work. Lenis thought he’d play a trick on him and pretended the Gull, Gorman’s air
ship, was crashing. We fell out of the sky like a petrified bird. At the last moment, Aeris started the engine again and we took off.’
‘See?’ Lenis beamed. ‘I told you, and if a wreck like the Gull can pull it off, it shouldn’t be a problem for the Hiryû.’
‘Yes, but do you remember what happened to Master Gorman?’ Missy pressed.
‘What happened to him?’ Namei demanded.
‘He fell overboard.’ Missy crossed her arms over her chest and glared at her brother.
‘He almost fell overboard!’ Lenis protested. ‘He managed to grab hold of a line.’
‘He dislocated his shoulder!’
‘Yes.’
‘He nearly ripped it right out of its socket!’
‘But he was all right other than that.’
‘He sold us the following week,’ Missy added.
Lenis couldn’t help himself. ‘So everything did work out.’
His sister sighed.
Namei giggled. ‘You did that?’
Lenis nodded.
Arthur cleared his throat to get their attention. ‘What about the rest of us? How are we going to get on board?’
Kenji scratched the back of his head, looking uncomfortable. ‘When the Hiryû reaches the fifteenth level ...’
‘Yes?’
‘You all jump on board.’
‘What!?’
Hiroshi rubbed his hands together. ‘Sounds like fun!’
‘Captain?’ Arthur turned to Shishi.
The captain’s eyebrows rose and fell. ‘It seems like a viable plan, despite the risks. We cannot all sneak on board the Hiryû up at the royal airdock, and we won’t be able to pull away and return before the Ostians start after us. If Master Clemens believes he can perform the manoeuvre, then it seems we have a plausible course of action before us. Lord Tenjin will, of course, have to come with Lenis and me, and perhaps the doctor?’
‘And miss all the fun?’ Long Liu began capering around. ‘Whee!’
The captain smiled. ‘Well, it appears we are to become daredevils for a while!’
‘What about the princess?’ Gawayn demanded.
Kenji placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘Oh, I wouldn’t concern yourself with that one. She’ll make it on board.’
Gawayn frowned and shook the navigator’s hand off.
Captain Shishi turned to the navigator. ‘How did you get the princess to help us in the first place?’
Kenji scratched the back of his head again. ‘I know all sorts of people, you know, and they know all sorts of people, and, well, you get the idea.’
The captain nodded. ‘Yes, I believe I do.’
Everyone else eyed the navigator. Lenis didn’t feel any outpourings of trust.
‘The princess knows all about the manuscript we were looking for,’ Kenji offered. ‘She’s even read it!’
Henji led them through the mist to a lift that took them into the higher levels of Asheim. After the first rush of excitement had settled, Lenis began to fret over their plan. As the lift stopped at level fifteen, and Kenji left the captain, Lenis and Tenjin to guide the others to the rendezvous with Andrea and Shin, Lenis resolved to voice his concerns. ‘About our plan, Captain ...’ The brief embraces Namei and Missy had given him before they left were still fresh in his mind, and he didn’t want to think that they could be the last.
‘Doubts, Master Clemens?’
Lenis looked away. ‘Not really. I know I can do this. It’s not even all that risky for us, but the others ...’
The captain chuckled. ‘What wisdom forbids, young Master Clemens, necessity dictates!’ Lenis nodded, still unconvinced. ‘Do not fear. Lord Knyght, Miss Shin and Mister Hiroshi are all capable of this feat.’
‘What about Namei, and Missy, and Master Long, and Andrea?’
The names tumbled from Lenis’s tongue in quick succession. He had not realised he had grown so close to them all, but he worried about them now as if they were his closest friends, even family. He would miss the cook who kept giving him advice, even when he didn’t need it, and the crazy old doctor, who had cared for both him and his sister when they were injured. To risk them like this was madness. Surely there was another way?
‘They will help each other. I do not fear for their safety.’
Lenis could sense the captain’s optimism and tried to take strength from it.
Tenjin placed a hand on his shoulder. Though it looked so frail, and Lenis could feel the bones just beneath the skin, the records keeper’s grip was solid. ‘Not all courses of action are wise, Lenis. That is where the saying you and the captain are so fond of comes from. When all the choices seem like madness, or folly, or the worst kind of recklessness, the truly wise can do only one thing.’
Lenis looked into the old man’s eyes. ‘What’s that?’
‘Their best. Ah, here’s our daring navigator.’
Feeling none too reassured, Lenis followed the others as they made their way to another lift that carried them even higher into the city. Lenis didn’t know if their ascent was the cause of the sinking feeling in his stomach, or if he was simply afraid of what they were about to do. So much could go wrong. He looked over at the captain, who was smiling, and resolved to do his best to ensure that nothing went wrong.
The lift came to a stop and Lenis readied himself to face the Ostian soldiers that would undoubtedly be guarding it.
Kenji looked at each of them in turn. ‘I suggest we run as soon as the doors open.’
When the great double doors swung back, the four of them darted out of the lift and onto the airdock. Lenis was impressed by Tenjin’s fitness. The old man kept pace with the others, looking almost comical as he lifted the hem of his robe to run. The guards on duty by the lift shouted after them, but they didn’t leave their posts to give chase. Perhaps they didn’t realise the four people who had just burst onto the airdock were escaped prisoners. Most of the armed guards patrolling the airdock looked more curious than alarmed at the four figures sprinting out of the lift, until someone noticed they were headed for the Hiryû.
By the time the alarm was raised, they were already at the gangplank. The captain barely paused as his scabbard knocked aside the two men stationed there. He moved so fast that Lenis couldn’t tell which of them fell first.
Once they were aboard, Lenis made straight for the engine room as Kenji and the captain hurried to sever the docking lines, and Tenjin moved into the bridge. Lenis reached the rear hatch and felt the deck lurch beneath his feet. He didn’t dare look back. He fell down the stairs and stumbled into his cabin. He prised open the Bestia hutch and scooped up Aeris, trying to dampen his rising panic.
‘It’s all right, my lady,’ he whispered into her fur as he carried her around to the engine block. ‘There’s nothing to worry about. We’re just in a bit of a hurry.’ He placed her inside the engine just as the Hiryû fell away from the airdock. ‘Get ready!’
He grabbed the ignition lever to steady himself as the airship plummeted out from beneath him, focusing all his attention on Aeris’s minute movements, trying to ignore the fact that he didn’t know which level they were passing.
Suddenly Tenjin’s voice came reverberating through the speech tube. ‘Lenis, now!’
Just then Aeris blinked and Lenis threw his weight against the lever. The engines roared to life.
Missy grabbed Namei’s hand and waited to jump. On either side of them were Arthur and Gawayn, each holding another member of the crew. They were waiting, eyes skywards, standing on the very edge of the fifteenth level of the city of Asheim right below the airdock several levels above them. The shouts of the guards stationed there reached them and they tensed, knowing that soon they would have to make the desperate leap.
Only Hiroshi and Long Liu seemed to be enjoying the prospect of jumping out into nothing. Apparently the thought of the distance they would have to fall if they missed the Hiryû’s deck hadn’t occurred to them
, or it only made what they were about to do more exciting.
Missy shivered and felt Namei squeeze her hand tighter.
‘Stand back!’
Missy glanced over her shoulder and saw a troop of Ostian guardsmen running towards them.
‘Now!’
Missy felt the Hiryû fall past them, felt the others pull her forward, her neck snapping around painfully. They jumped out from the city. The air rushed up to meet them and Missy’s stomach threatened to deliver up her last meal. Then she felt the deck jarring her knees and ankles as she stumbled aboard the airship. She heard two piteous screams fall away behind them.
No ...
The airship was still falling, and it felt like the deck was going to pull away from her, but she forced herself to her feet. Her legs ached and her head was giddy, but as the airship’s dive levelled out and they pulled away from the city, Missy looked around to be sure everyone was safe. The crew were all there, which meant at least two of the Ostian guards had tried to follow them and ...
And then she saw the Demon looming over the captain. It had the head of an ape, the body and claws of a tiger, and the scales of a dragon. Out of its back grew two feathered wings, and it had a serpent’s tail.
Missy and Namei screamed, but Gawayn didn’t hesitate. He ran forward, drawing his shining blade. He swung it, two-handed, at the Demon’s haunch. It turned on him and began beating its great wings. The air they churned battered the swordsman, forcing him to his knees. The captain darted forward and struck, his thin blade moving faster than a snake’s strike, but the Demon spun again.
Arthur ran up to join the fight. ‘Where did that come from?’
Missy’s hands twitched. She reached inside her robe for the Quillblade that wasn’t there.
‘Get back!’ the captain shouted, and Missy glanced at him. He was pointing to the forward hatch behind her, but over his shoulder Missy saw the rapidly diminishing city of Asheim. Other airships had left the city and were chasing after them. There must have been at least a dozen of them. Through the crystal dome of the bridge, Missy could see Kenji and Tenjin both wrestling with the tiller. The Hiryû started swaying backwards and forwards as they fought to steady her.
