by Ben Chandler
‘It is a good idea,’ Captain Shishi replied. ‘We cannot be delayed in Erdasche for long. We can leave Heidi behind to rally the duke while we continue on our own quest.’
Missy was far from reassured. There was something nagging at the back of her mind. Not guilt. Oh, she felt that all right, but that wasn’t what was bothering her now.
You’ve claimed another servant.
Missy looked quickly at Heidi. ‘All right. Go and tell your people that I have appointed you as my agent, or whatever.’
Heidi nodded and left. Missy watched her go and then turned to look at Kanu, who was still by her side. You’ve claimed another servant. The thought kept floating through her mind. She couldn’t quite banish it. But they weren’t her servants. She wasn’t like that, was she?
‘Why don’t you go and see if Lenis needs any help in the engine room?’ she suggested to the boy.
‘Yes,’ Kanu said, and scampered below decks. She was as glad to see him leave as she was ashamed she’d told him to go.
‘I need to talk to you.’
Lenis knew without looking up from the engines that it was the princess. He could tell from her wooden monotone. But why would she want to talk to him? As far as he knew, she never sought anyone out unless it was to talk about going after Lord Butin. He sighed. He could already sense that Disma wasn’t with her. This was going to be an awkward conversation.
‘Of course, Princess,’ he said as politely as he could. ‘What do you need?’ Lenis straightened up from behind the engine block.
She took one step into the engine room and then stopped. ‘Before. You said I was like a Demon.’
Lenis felt a little ashamed at that. He hadn’t really meant it. He had just been so … angry over what Kanu had done to him and his sister, and the princess had gotten in his way. It was hardly fair of him to take out his frustration on her, but she was just so, well, frustrating!
‘Oh,’ he stammered. ‘About that. I’m sorry. I just –’
‘Why?’
‘Sorry, what?’
‘Why?’ Anastasis repeated.
‘Why did I call you a Demon? Um …’ Lenis faltered and tried again. ‘Well, I didn’t, really, I said you were like a Demon, because, you know, they’re empty, and you’re …’ His voice trailed off.
‘No,’ the princess said. ‘I don’t want to know about that.’
Now Lenis was really confused. ‘You don’t? Look, I –’
‘Why do I care?’
Lenis was dumbstruck. He opened his mouth to say something and then closed it again.
‘I shouldn’t be able to care,’ Anastasis went on. ‘I shouldn’t be able to feel.’
‘But you do?’ Lenis asked.
‘Yes.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Lenis repeated. ‘I don’t know. I don’t understand.’
‘Neither do I.’
They remained standing there, considering one another for several moments before the princess turned and departed without another word. Just after she left, Kanu came charging into the engine room. Lenis suppressed a sigh. Why couldn’t people just leave him alone?
‘Do you need any help, Mashu?’ Kanu asked. He reminded Lenis of a newborn Bestia, all nervous energy and eager to please.
‘Not really,’ Lenis said, more shortly than he’d intended.
For a moment this didn’t seem to affect the boy, and then he sort of deflated, the exuberance melting out of him. ‘Oh.’ Kanu sat on the edge of Lenis’s bunk. ‘Mashu, why am I here?’
‘I’m sorry?’ Lenis moved around the engine block to stand near him.
The Titan child looked up at him. ‘Why am I here?’
‘I … I’m not really sure, Kanu,’ Lenis admitted. ‘I don’t understand it any more than you.’ All this time he’d been so frustrated Kanu didn’t have any answers it had never occurred to him that the boy might have questions of his own.
‘I understand,’ Kanu said, surprising Lenis. ‘I am here to serve Mashu.’
‘Um, okay?’
‘But how am I meant to serve you, Mashu? What do you need me for?’
Lenis had never felt such a depth of longing as he did in Kanu. The Titan boy wanted, he needed, an answer, but Lenis didn’t have one. He didn’t want to be Mashu, or anything that came with it, and he definitely didn’t want anyone serving him. But how was he supposed to say that to the boy when he was sitting there feeling so miserable and useless?
‘Look,’ Lenis said eventually, ‘why don’t you go and fill the Bestia’s water dishes for me? When you get back I can show you how to brush them, and then maybe you can feed them.’
It was such a small thing, but it was apparently enough. An impossibly large smile spread across Kanu’s face, and he literally leapt off Lenis’s bunk to obey. When he was gone, empty water dishes in hand, Lenis did sigh. It seemed he had another small creature to take care of. As if in response he felt a questing from Suiteki, a tugging at his empathic awareness. It took all his effort to find a sense of calm to reassure her with.
Missy tried to concentrate on only one of the Bestia housed in the Erdasche airdock. Some idiot had decided it would be a good idea to use a whole team of them to receive incoming messages. That was all good and well in theory, but they kept them together in the same hutch, which made it extremely difficult to get through to one particular Bestia, especially when none of them were trained very well. She finally settled on one with an affinity for earth, as they tended to be less flighty. They were seldom used in airdocks as they had the habit of keeping their attention focused on the ground below instead of the air around them, but this one seemed to be pretty steady.
To make matters worse, though, there was only one Bestia communicator on duty, and he was trying to listen to what each of the Bestia was relaying to him simultaneously. It was one of the most inexperienced and inefficient examples of Bestia communication Missy had ever dealt with, but deal with it she did. Eventually, the Hiryū was able to dock and unload its fifty plus passengers onto the unprepared airdock authorities.
For several minutes Heiliglanders milled around aimlessly on the airdock, with most of the Hiryū’s crew watching from the bridge, until a man easily seven feet tall with a bald head and an impressively long, blond moustache strode out of the authorities’ office and began bellowing orders. In a matter of minutes the people of Fronge were loosely corralled into one corner of the airdock while the tall, bald man stomped up the Hiryū’s gangplank.
‘I think it’s time you went to work,’ Missy whispered to Heidi, who nodded and squared her shoulders.
The two girls followed the captain and first officer down to the deck to meet the official.
The man drew in a deep breath and cried, ‘What by Freyr’s beard are you –’
But Heidi strode up to him and shook a finger under his nose. ‘You can’t talk to us like that!’
Missy groaned inwardly. It seemed her doubts about appointing Heidi as her spokeswoman were proving well founded. The girl was going to get them all into trouble.
‘You listen to me, you little …’ Missy didn’t recognise the word the man used to describe Heidi, but she knew the tone of an insult when she heard one.
‘No, you listen,’ Heidi insisted, her finger waggling backwards and forwards, ‘Fronge has been destroyed –’
‘What?’
‘– and we haven’t got time to be standing around talking to an insignificant airdock administrator. Take us to the duke at once!’
The man’s whole head turned purple.
Missy stepped up behind Heidi. ‘Ah, Heidi –’
Heidi turned and scowled at her. The message was clear. She wanted Missy to stay out of it. Heidi addressed the official again. ‘My name is Heidi Baumstochter. The great Magni, wielder of lightning and goddess of war, has anointed me as her chosen herald. The news I bring is grave. There is a Demonic horde gathering within the Wastelands, poised to strike into the very heart of Heiligland. We must see the duke immediately
.’
The airdock official looked as though he had been stunned into speechlessness. He kept opening and closing his mouth, but no words came out, just a sort of gasping noise. Then all of the survivors of Fronge started talking at once, describing the horrors that Karasu had inflicted upon them in service to Idunn the Demon King. Missy tensed, ready to lay hold of the Quillblade and use her powers to convince the airdock official to let them see the duke, but whether it was Heidi’s speech or the excited babble of the people of Fronge that convinced him, it didn’t matter. ‘You had better come with me,’ he muttered and turned to stalk back down the gangplank.
Missy translated for the others and then followed along behind him as he led them down to the airdock and over to a large stone tower that was built adjacent to it.
Missy grabbed hold of Heidi’s hand. ‘What are you doing?’
Heidi snatched it away. ‘What we came here to do. Now play your part, Magni.’
Missy fell silent and trailed along after the daunting figure of the airdock official. Once in the tower they were led down a series of tightly spiralling steps and eventually out onto the cobbled street. They passed a number of people dressed in trousers and shirts and leather coats who, just like the people of Fronge, stopped to stare at the strangers with their foreign features and odd clothes.
Arthur was in his navy-coloured short coat with the gold buttons, and the captain was wearing his black Shinzōn robes. Missy was still wearing the outfit Heidi had chosen for her. Her curly hair had become all knotty from the wind, and the leather kilt was beginning to chafe her skin raw through the flimsy dress she had on underneath. She was so cold she didn’t think she’d ever be warm again and longed for Andrea’s heavy woollen coat. Most of the Heiliglanders in the streets had bright yellow hair, but a number of them had brown or even dirty-blond hair like hers. Their eyes, too, were light like Missy’s, though there was far more blue and grey than green.
As they were led further into Erdasche, no doubt towards the duke’s residence or the local town hall or something like that, Missy fretted over their plan. Her nerves grew more fraught with every step. Heidi seemed to exude confidence, but none of it rubbed off on Missy. She wanted to read the Heiliglander’s mind so badly, but she didn’t attempt it. All she would see in there would be images of Heidi’s plan, which Missy already knew enough about. Besides, she’d lied to and manipulated the Heiliglander as it was without betraying her privacy any further.
Eventually they reached a small square with a stone fountain set in the middle of it. Behind that was an impressive looking structure, built out of stone and wood. Its walls were painted white, offsetting the dark timber that made up the support columns spaced evenly along its length. The roof was also made of wood, unlike so many of the other dwellings and businesses they had passed, which were thatched. If Fronge had been built in a similar manner, it was no wonder the town had burned down so readily.
There were no guards at the doors, which Missy found both odd and a little unsettling. She was so used to places of governance being guarded that this one felt vulnerable. Karasu was still out there, after all, and if he had pursued the Hiryū instead of going on to Kolga’s temple in the north, as they were guessing, he could easily do here what he had done in Fronge. Missy tried to reassure herself that Erdasche was much larger than Fronge, a city more than a township, and probably safe from the Shinzōn mercenary, but still … She wouldn’t feel truly safe until they had both the stones of ebb and flow in their possession.
Their bald guide with the enormous moustache thrust open the wooden doors and strode into the building, leaving the others to follow along behind him. Inside was a large empty hall. It had a hard-packed mud floor and was lined with racks of weaponry. Beams of the same wood used for the pillars supported the ceiling. It was no wonder there were no guards on duty. There was nothing to steal inside except for some dusty, rusty-looking weapons. Missy noticed there was a hole in the middle of the ceiling, and directly below this was a fire pit ringed by shirtless men. Each one had an animal skin draped over his shoulders and wore leather trousers.
Their guide moved straight over to the fire pit. ‘Hail, Ajat Freyrsson, I have brought emissaries from the gods to speak with you.’
One of the men stood up. He was taller than their guide, and his hair and eyes were black. His chest and knuckles were as hirsute as his head. Across his shoulders he wore a pure white pelt of some animal Missy didn’t recognise. Whatever it had been in life it must have been huge. ‘Hail, Olav Olafsson. What did you say you have brought us?’
‘Emissaries,’ their guide, Olav, repeated, ‘claiming to be sent by the gods.’
The ring of men burst into laughter. Olav purpled again.
‘It is true.’ Heidi’s voice rang out clearly in the mostly empty hall. ‘We bring grave tidings from the gods!’
The silence that greeted her words lasted only a moment, and then the men were all laughing again.
‘Child,’ Ajat said, the giant of a man wiping tears of mirth from his eyes, ‘what jollity is this?’
Heidi turned to glare at Missy. ‘Do it,’ she hissed. ‘Now.’
Once again, Missy’s throat went dry and she felt nauseous. This was it. This was why they had come here. She was going to have to pretend to be Magni again. All she had to do was convince these men she was a god and then they could return to the Hiryū and get out of here.
‘We have no time to waste with you.’ Ajat waved a dismissive hand at them and sank back to the ground.
Heidi was still glaring at Missy. She was waiting for Missy to step in and take charge of the situation, just as she had done back in the square in Fronge, but Missy hesitated.
Heidi waited another moment before crying out, ‘Fronge has been attacked!’
‘What?’ Several of the men jumped to their feet this time.
Heidi went on. ‘Fronge is destroyed! Ajat Freyrsson, you are the Duke of Heimat Isle. You must hear us out.’
‘What are you saying?’ Ajat demanded, once more on his feet. This time he strode around the fire pit to confront them. Missy fell back to stand beside Arthur and the captain. Heidi held her ground.
‘What is going on?’ the captain asked, his hand resting on his sword hilt.
Missy remained dumbstruck as Ajat bore down on them. Arthur had tensed beside her, and though the captain appeared at ease, she knew that he was getting ready to draw his blade.
‘Miss Clemens?’ the captain whispered in Shinzōn.
‘What is this nonsense?’ Ajat demanded, spittle flying from his lips and spraying Heidi’s face.
Heidi somehow managed to maintain her composure. ‘I speak the truth.’ She looked back at Missy but went on, ‘Fronge is destroyed. Consumed by fire.’
‘Who did this? Who dares attack what belongs to Ajat Freyrsson?’
For a heartbeat, Heidi said nothing and thoughts whirled through Missy’s mind. The girl had done it now. She had committed them to their lie. There was no telling what the duke would do. What was it Heidi had said? Do you think someone can come and destroy one of our towns and we won’t do anything? Did you think you could just fly off and we’d just sit around and wait for you to fix everything? The world doesn’t work that way.
‘Fronge was destroyed by Demons,’ Heidi said quietly.
Ajat’s response was immediate. He grabbed Heidi by both shoulders and shook her. ‘There are no Demons on Heimat Isle!’
Missy swallowed the lump in her throat and grasped the Quillblade’s hilt. The situation was getting out of control. It was now or never. ‘Enough!’ she cried out, her voice magnified as it had been back in the town square in Fronge. ‘Release my herald now!’
Ajat all but dropped Heidi, who exaggerated her fall and turned it into a grovelling bow. Sprawled on the compacted mud, her forehead pressed to the ground, she called, ‘All hail Magni Lightning-Wielder!’
‘What is this?’ Ajat demanded. ‘Some joke? You expect us to believe that this slip of
a girl is the Lightning-Wielder?’ He threw back his head and laughed.
Whether it was his contempt for her or a result of the Quillblade’s effects, Missy didn’t know, but suddenly she was angry. Really angry. She didn’t even want to be here in the first place and this man was wasting their time!
‘Listen to me, Ajat Freyrsson,’ she cried, using her power to force the words into his mind, to make him believe her. ‘I am Magni, and I have come to ready your people for war!’
Missy had been so intent on convincing the duke that she had forgotten about the others in the hall.
‘What is this, Ajat?’ one of them scoffed. ‘Do you take orders from children, now?’
The hide-draped men laughed and Missy turned her ire towards them. ‘Do you dare to mock me?’ She felt the Quillblade respond. The throbbing in the shintai intensified as it fed on her emotions. Its power grew with her fury. She needed to do something to show them she was serious. Missy directed her mind to the fire pit. There was already a hole in the ceiling, if she could just …
Her brow furrowed as she concentrated, and a moment later a bolt of lightning burst out of the clear sky overhead, through the hole in the ceiling of the hall, and crashed into the pit between the duke’s men. They cried out and fell back. Missy pushed herself into their minds, altering their images of the war goddess. She became younger in their imaginations, shorter, thinner. The bolt of lightning she held in her hand became a golden feather. And suddenly, as one, they saw her as Magni the Lightning-Wielder.
‘Great Magni,’ one of them grovelled, scrabbling towards her on his knees. ‘Forgive us.’
‘We have known peace too long,’ another said, holding out his hands to her in supplication. ‘We had forgotten you.’
Missy considered the hide-draped men for a moment, satisfied she had them where they needed to be. A very small part buried deep inside was crying, but a larger part was gloating. She had done it. She may not have been Magni but she was the Lightning-Wielder, and these men would listen to her now.
