Voyages of the Flying Dragon: Beast Child

by Ben Chandler

  Lenis’s mind was working furiously. He didn’t have his sister’s head for languages, but he remembered Tenjin had once told him Onishu was a Shinzōn word meaning ‘Demon Lord’. Something clicked into place. Akuma, King of the Onishu. Just like Ishullanu, the Demon King!

  ‘My crew and I,’ the captain went on, ‘are on a quest to destroy Akuma.’

  ‘You are a fool,’ the Demon scoffed. ‘His power is too great for any mortal to overcome.’

  ‘Perhaps,’ the captain conceded, ‘but I do not see why a servant of Lord Aitō would seek to thwart Akuma’s enemies.’

  Akandoji took a while to process this. Eventually the Demon shrugged, tossing his gnarled hair about. ‘Neither do I, mortal. You may be a fool, but you are a wise one. You may go.’

  The captain relaxed his stance, but only by a bit. ‘You will let us pass?’

  ‘Of course.’ Akandoji gave another bow and waved his hand to one side, motioning for them to go ahead. ‘I sought only to delay you long enough for Karasu to leave. Besides,’ he added as he straightened, ‘I’m not all that hungry for human flesh just now.’

  ‘Captain?’ Shin asked, her eyes never leaving the Demon.

  ‘Return to the landcraft,’ the captain said. ‘I do not believe Akandoji will try to stop us now.’

  The Demon smirked. ‘Quite so.’

  The others turned and walked around to the side of the temple, where the landcraft was waiting. Each of them kept their necks craned around so they could watch Akandoji in case he tried to attack their backs. He remained where he was.

  So did the captain. ‘Why are you working with Karasu?’

  Akandoji looked to his left and then to his right, as if afraid of being overheard. It was such a human gesture that it made Lenis shiver. As alien as the Lilim were, there was always something human about them. It was unnerving, even more so when that Lilim was a Demon – a Demon that was also somehow still alive.

  ‘That man is also a fool, mortal,’ Akandoji said in a stage whisper. ‘But he is a useful one.’

  The captain paused for another moment before walking over to the landcraft. He didn’t once look over his shoulder to ensure the Demon wasn’t about to pounce on him.

  ‘What was that all about, Captain?’ Hiroshi asked as they all mounted.

  ‘I am not sure, Mister Hiroshi,’ the captain replied. ‘It seems there is even more going on in the world than I had suspected. Mister Clemens, please get us back to Haven as quickly as possible. We must try and catch up with Karasu.’

  Lenis settled into the pilot’s seat and started the engines. ‘I’m not sure I can find our way back,’ he admitted. ‘Every direction looks the same out here.’

  ‘Can you not sense the Bestia as you did back in the Wastelands near Neti’s temple?’ the captain asked. ‘There are many of them in Haven.’

  ‘Oh, I forgot about that,’ Lenis admitted and, feeling a little sheepish, he sent his awareness out into the Wastelands around them.

  Missy stood at the entrance to Haven and stared out into the Wastelands. Not that she could see far, but she was determined to meet her brother as soon as he returned. They really needed to talk. Missy had to tell him that she was staying in Haven, that she was sorry, and that she didn’t want them to be mad at one another when they parted ways. Dread filled her. She feared how he would react. Would he see this as just another attempt to claim power for herself? Would he look at her with those sad blue-green eyes of his?

  She shivered. No. He would understand. He had to understand. It wasn’t that she wanted to leave. There was no choice. Even with Suiteki at full power they would need more than one Totem to stand against Ishullanu and his Demon army. Even if all she wanted was to stay with her brother aboard the Hiryū, and the thought of leaving them tore her up inside, it didn’t matter. She would do it. As her brother always said, what wisdom forbade, necessity dictated, or something like that.

  Missy’s resolve did nothing to ease her growing guilt, nor fill the hollowness opening up inside her. She was so caught up in her own turmoil that she hadn’t noticed the sound of engines riding the wind. Her heart skipped in her chest. This was it. The time had come.

  Only it hadn’t. What she heard was not the engine of a landcraft, but those of an airship. Her body tensed. Who could it be? Leaving off her vigil, she raced down to the airdock. Ahead of her she could see the black-coated members of the Brotherhood coming out to greet the new arrival. Missy tried to tell herself to relax. The signal Bestia were lighting the way, so whoever it was had probably contacted Pog before coming in to land.

  After what seemed an age, the airship settled into the berth next to the Hiryū. Missy recognised it immediately. It was the Geschichte, their lost escort. Ursula Klinge, the airship’s captain, was at the railing before the vessel touched down.

  ‘Did they arrive?’ she called as she came storming down the gangplank. ‘Are they safe?’ Ursula caught sight of Missy and strode up to her. ‘You’re all right! After that Demon attack I was wondering …’ Her words trailed off as she took in Missy’s appearance. She must have looked a sight. Tear-stained cheeks. Sweat-soaked clothing. Shivering like a child. What was it Heidi had always told her? Gods don’t get cold. Ursula was frowning down at her. ‘You aren’t Magni.’ She sounded uncertain, as if she was asking rather than stating.

  Missy shook her head, shame flooding through her. ‘I’m not Magni,’ she began in a small voice, ‘but I can explain.’ And she did, as fast as she dared. She told Ursula about Ishullanu and the Hiryū, and about Fronge and Heidi and the Quillblade, the words rushing out of her in her haste to be heard and, she had to admit to herself, to justify what she had done. All the while Ursula remained unmoving, her brows pulled together and her mouth set. The crevices etched into her face seemed to grow deeper, too, casting her features into unreal lines of shadow. ‘We didn’t have a choice,’ Missy finished.

  Ursula opened her mouth, then she pressed it close again. Finally, she let out a long breath through her nose and said, ‘You may not be a god, girl, but you move in some pretty divine company.’

  Missy wasn’t sure how to take that. When Ursula didn’t say anything more, Missy ventured, ‘Are you mad?’

  Captain Klinge looked grimmer than ever, but then she gave a bark of laughter and reached out to push a curl of hair back from Missy’s face. Missy looked down, strangely embarrassed by the woman’s gesture. ‘It’s hard to be mad at someone who’s trying to save the world. What’s your name? Your real name?’

  ‘Misericordia Clemens. Missy.’

  ‘Well, Missy, I don’t like being lied to, I’ll say that straight up, but I’ve been flying long enough to know that the Demons are multiplying, and I’ve seen more than a few safe ports enveloped by the Wastelands. I don’t fully understand what you’re doing or what’s going on, but I believe you when you say you were only trying to help. Way I see it, the Demons will come as you say, or we’ll end up having to go after them. Either way, Heiligland needs a war goddess, and since the real Magni seems to be hiding somewhere, I guess you’ll do.’

  ‘Do you mean that?’ Missy’s throat was so closed up she croaked the words.

  Ursula shook her head. ‘Demon’s wings! You’re just a child.’

  Missy felt the tears prickling behind her eyes. She didn’t know how to respond to the woman’s kindness, but then Michael, the man who had first greeted them in Haven, started shouting, ‘They’re back!’ and she didn’t have to.

  He was pointing towards the entrance to Haven. Missy looked up and saw the landcraft pull into the crevice that marked the beginning of the ravine. Her brother was in the pilot’s seat, looking haggard but apparently unharmed. She raced up to meet them and nearly dragged Lenis off the machine as she reached up to embrace him, choking on her sobs.

  ‘What’s the matter with you?’ Lenis mumbled. He was completely worn out.

  ‘I was so worried about you!’ Missy cried. ‘Did you find it?’

  Lenis sig
hed. ‘Not exactly.’

  He held something out to her, and she took it from his hand. It was a smooth orb, marred by a single, savage crack. ‘What happened?’

  ‘Karasu.’

  And then everyone was gathering around them, demanding explanations, shouting accusations. Missy ignored them all. She only had eyes for her brother, who was so weary he could barely stand without her support. Pulling his arm around her shoulder, she began leading him towards the Hiryū. With a pang inside her chest, Missy looked back at Ursula, but Captain Shishi had approached the Geschichte’s captain and was talking earnestly with her.

  Lenis. Focus on Lenis.

  She felt her burden lighten and glanced across Lenis’s semi-prone body. Kanu had taken her brother’s other arm. Together they got him up the gangplank, below decks, and into his bunk. He was snoring softly even before the Bestia clustered up and around him, welcoming their Keeper home.

  ‘I think I know now,’ Kanu said.

  The words caught Missy off guard. ‘Know what?’

  ‘I understand why I am here.’

  Missy felt her heart catch for a moment. Not this servant of Mashu thing again. ‘And why is that, Kanu?’

  ‘I am here because he needs me to be here.’

  Missy suppressed a sigh and studied her sleeping brother’s face. He always managed to appear so peaceful when he was asleep. The creases that so often marred his forehead when he was troubled smoothed themselves out. The tightness around his eyes lessened. His mouth went slack, and a spot of drool dribbled down his chin. Absently, she used the corner of his blanket to wipe it away. Lenis. Her little brother. When he woke up she would have to say goodbye to him. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes and then began to fall. Kanu left them in peace.

  Lenis woke from what he thought might have been a bad dream, but he couldn’t remember what it had been about. The Bestia were all over him, and Suiteki was looped over his neck, but he resisted the urge to pull himself free of them. Instead, he settled deeper into his bunk and tried to fall back asleep. There would be time enough to deal with reality when he was properly awake. He placed his hand over his pocket to make sure the stone was still there. For now he was content to let his body rest and his mind drift back into his dreams.

  A moment later his eyes flew open. Karasu. He didn’t have the time to lie around in his bunk. He tried to disentangle himself from his Bestia without waking them, but of course they stirred as soon as he moved. Lenis placed a hand over Suiteki and transferred her into the space inside his robe she loved so much. Aeris mewed at him before curling up on his pillow. Lenis scratched her between the ears, gave Ignis a quick pat, and then headed up to the bridge. It was empty. Lenis went back down to their makeshift infirmary. Shujinko was the only one there. The cabin boy was lying on one of the tables, wrapped up in blankets. He didn’t seem too happy about it, either.

  ‘Where is everyone?’ Lenis asked.

  Shujinko glared at him. His left eye was still discoloured from the beating Lenis had given him. ‘They have gone into Haven.’

  Lenis nodded, moving around Hiroshi’s bench to place Suiteki back in her nest. She didn’t want to, but Lenis tapped the baby dragon gently on the nose. She snipped at him, her hunger pushing against his senses until he rummaged around in the cupboard and found the jar of tidbits Hiroshi kept for her. Suiteki snapped up the kernels of dried meat and sent a blast of recrimination at Lenis for tapping her on the nose. He grimaced and nudged her with remorse.

  Lenis was surprised when he sensed her satisfaction. ‘Well, my lady, aren’t we growing up into quite the little princess?’

  ‘What did you say?’ Shujinko snapped.

  Lenis stood up to see the cabin boy straining up from his makeshift pallet to look over Hiroshi’s bench. ‘I was speaking to Suiteki. Shouldn’t you be lying down?’

  ‘I am fine.’

  ‘You don’t look fine.’

  The two glared at each for a moment, and then Shujinko looked away. ‘You did nothing.’

  Lenis felt coldness spread through his chest. ‘What?’

  ‘During the battle, you did nothing,’ Shujinko repeated. ‘Ever since you beat me, I have wanted to challenge you again, to test myself against you. Two warriors using their full power without holding back. But I no longer wish for that. There is no honour to be won or lost in challenging a weakling.’

  Lenis’s heart beat faster. His surging blood warmed his whole body. ‘Just a min –’

  ‘You have power, Lenis, but you do not use it. Shinzōn swordsmen spend all of their time training. Every moment of every day. It is their purpose, their focus. Everything they do and everything they are is their sword. You do not even possess a weapon. Your sister is more of a warrior than you are. No matter how much you may wish it, you will never be one. You are not a fighter.’

  Lenis stood there dumbfounded, resentment boiling inside him, but he couldn’t refute Shujinko’s words. The cabin boy had been badly wounded fighting the Demons, protecting their crewmates, while Lenis had cowered behind Kanu.

  ‘I doubt the dragon can even understand you,’ Shujinko said, and lay down again to gaze at the ceiling.

  ‘She understands enough,’ Lenis mumbled, his voice made hollow by the cabin boy’s casual dismissal of his prowess. With a few small statements Shujinko had shattered Lenis’s illusions of himself as any sort of warrior. He made mockery of all of Lenis’s training. How pathetic his few practice bouts must have seemed to the fully trained Shinzōn boy. No, not boy. Swordsman. Shujinko was a swordsman, just like Yami and the captain. He would be the one fighting Demons alongside them. Not Lenis. In light of the cabin boy’s words such private dreams were made vainglorious and childish, and his words weren’t even the worst of it. Shujinko no longer hated Lenis. He no longer resented him. If Shujinko felt anything for Lenis it was pity, the same pity he reserved for any helpless creature.

  Lenis turned from the cabin boy and crouched down next to Suiteki again. The little dragon was still gorging herself on treats. Blinking through tears, Lenis pulled the marred stone from his pocket and offered it up to her.

  Suiteki gulped down her mouthful and looked at the stone with her head tilted to the side. Lenis pushed it a little closer, and Suiteki scrabbled out of her nest to sniff it. She cawed and then licked the orb’s surface. Lenis felt nothing from the stone, but the sadness that welled up inside the baby Totem was so intense he hastily put the thing back in his pocket. So, he had been right. There was something wrong with it.

  ‘… are you even listening to me?’

  Lenis rubbed at his face before standing. ‘Sorry, what?’

  ‘I said,’ Shujinko repeated slowly, ‘you should probably get to the temple in Haven. The captain wanted you at the meeting.’

  ‘What meeting?’

  Shujinko sniffed and looked away. ‘The one they’re having to decide the Hiryū’s fate. Without me.’

  Missy sat on a chair next to Fox’s divan and tried to avoid the questioning looks her crewmates were directing at her. Former crewmates, she reminded herself. They were soon going to find out that she had decided to leave them. She hoped they would understand. She knew that they would, but that didn’t stop her from feeling guilty for abandoning them without a communications officer.

  The Bestia had been cleared from the temple, which was now ringed in divans occupied by the crews of the Geschichte and the Hiryū. The doctor had forbidden Shujinko from leaving his pallet in the galley, so the cabin boy wasn’t there. He had given the same order to Arthur and Andrea, since their injuries were just as severe. Both had ignored him. Arthur needed to be carried in, but he now sat stoically next to the captain, his chest rising and falling in an unsteady rhythm. Andrea was sitting rigidly next to Shin. The lookout had refused all offers for aid. The thick bandages wrapped around her head were bloodied, but she made no complaint. Her brother, Angelus, sat on the divan directly next to hers, his eyes never leaving her face, his body tense as if he was waiting
to spring up and lend her his hand. Andrea had barely acknowledged the boy’s presence.

  Ursula stood between two men. One was skinny. His name was Charles Mild. The other was short and muscular and went by the name Gustav von Something-Or-Other. On either side of them was a woman Ursula introduced as Helena Vortrag and a rather average-looking Heiliglander named Joseph Hexenmeister. It was a small crew for an airship, even for one the size of the Geschichte.

  There were a few representatives from the Brotherhood scattered around, too, though these seemed to be a token force, as the Cunning Lady would be speaking for all of them. Two of them flanked Kenji, who was sitting on a chair in the middle of the ring of divans. Yami stood directly behind him, his arms hidden in the depths of his sleeves, his eyes boring into the back of Kenji’s skull.

  Her brother wasn’t present. A part of Missy hoped he would sleep through the whole thing so that she would get a chance to tell him about her decision in private. Another part of her, one she didn’t like very much, wished he would arrive before they started so that she wouldn’t have to look directly into his eyes and tell him she was leaving.

  Her stomach felt as though it was tied in knots. Fox raised a hand, and those gathered fell silent. Missy was almost relieved until her brother came sprinting into the hall. He saw her, sitting on the raised dais with Fox. She could tell he was puzzled, but she shook her head, refusing to meet his eyes. He took a seat between Arthur and the captain.

  ‘Very well, ladies and gentlemen,’ Fox said. ‘Let us begin.’

  Lenis gazed at Missy, who was most definitely trying not to look back at him. Why was she sitting with the Fox Lady? Unease ate at him, refusing to be stilled.

  The captain cleared his throat, capturing everyone’s attention except for Missy, who glanced at him and then turned her head to the side when Lenis tried to catch her eye. ‘I would request that we keep this meeting short. Our adversary is getting ever further away from us.’