by Holly Evans
“We’re not going to let you face them alone, Kaitlyn,” Tyn said.
“Surely, they’re not that bad,” Erin said.
“We’re going to find out,” I said.
I focused entirely on their ship. Wispy was on there somewhere. It was a simple design painted in deep blue and rich green, the usual fear merchant colours. A pair of crewmen loitered on the dock, laughing about something as we approached. I was painfully aware of every little detail, from the way the waves crashed into the rocks to my left to the biting pain of the magic in my fingertips. Fear began to fill the back of my mind as I got close to the ship. No doubt it was some defensive system of theirs. My feet slowed as I desperately wanted to turn back and leave the ship be. I wasn’t going to do that.
“What can we do for you?” an older man asked me as I came up level with the ship.
I pulled myself up to my full height and glared at him.
“One of your people stole my wisp.”
A razor-sharp smile cut across his face.
“We were taking bets on if you’d have the balls to come and get it back. Pretty little thing. It’ll make a good bit of money.”
I took a step closer to him and unlatched the top of my fire powder. I’d take on every merchant on that ship if I had to.
“He’s mine, and I’m not leaving without him.”
“Ya hear that, Bjorn? The scrappy little woman wants her wisp back!” he called out to a blond man on the deck of the ship.
“Let her aboard, she can have it if she wants. ‘Course, she’s got to really want it,” the blond said.
Bjorn stretched his arm out and pointed to the dark green door to the cabin.
“You heard the man, go and take your wisp back, if you can.”
I stepped onto the boat and focused on keeping my breathing calm and steady as the fear washed over me. My heartrate was already rising, my lungs were constricting, and it was only going to get worse.
“No, you stay here,” Bjorn said.
I looked back to see him blocking Tyn and Erin from getting onto the boat.
“He’s my wisp, I’ll be fine,” I said with confidence I didn’t feel.
The deck stretched out before me. My vision began to darken around the edges, and the feeling that I was entirely alone in the world wrapped around me. I lifted my chin and walked to the door. Each step felt as though it was my last. A voice told me I’d never make it, that it was a worthless endeavour to even try. I gritted my teeth and wrapped my hand tight around the door handle when I made it. It was going to take more than a little fear to stop me.
I threw the door open and stepped into a small black space. My chest constricted, breathing became difficult as it felt like the darkness was filling my lungs and throat. I closed my eyes and breathed through my nose. It was all in my head. Fear would not stop me. I opened my eyes and walked into the darkness while reminding myself that Wispy was in there, and who knew what the poor wisp was suffering?
My uncle’s voice began to whisper around me.
“You’re a failure. No one ever wanted you. Look at you, a disgrace. You’ll never be loved. You screw around because you know you’re not good enough for a relationship.”
Every word felt like a deep cut. I’d stopped moving forward. Tears had begun to run down my cheeks. Once again, I breathed through my nose and pushed on. Fear was not going to stop me from achieving my goals.
My uncle’s voice got louder as I pushed on down the hallway. It was soon joined by Logan’s telling me that I was a worthless fool, a failure, and more. I refused to acknowledge the voices. Wispy was in there, and I wasn’t leaving without him.
Eventually, the hallway opened into a large room with a table in the middle. Wispy was fast asleep in his cage, entirely oblivious to the group of merchants barely feet away from him. I lifted my chin and slipped my hand into my pouch of fire powder. If they wanted a fight, I was going to give it to them.
“Settle down, alchemist. You can take your wisp, it’s a shitty pet anyway,” a woman said as she picked up Wispy’s cage.
She threw it at me and turned her back to me in disgust. I caught the cage and ran my fingers over the cool edges of Wispy, feeling the calming comfort wash over me.
“Piss off, already, we want to leave this rock,” a male merchant said.
I turned and left the way I’d come and was relieved to find it was a perfectly normal hallway on the way back.
“I told you she’d be boring,” a woman said above me.
Bjorn said something in a language I didn’t recognise and reached past me to hand her some money. They’d been taking bets on my reaction. I held Wispy’s cage to my chest and continued to stroke him as he buzzed peacefully, the wisp could sleep through anything when he wanted.
The familiar bump of the drake scale attached to the bottom of Wispy’s cage caught my attention and made me smile. I stood down as though to redo the laces on my boots and quickly unstuck the small disk. It was something I’d made a few years back, a last resort. The disk shimmered with the blues of the deepest oceans. It was half as thick as my finger and a third the size of my palm. Its lack of size hid the sheer destructive power I’d packed into it. Phoenix saliva and ash had been bound to drake heart and fire elemental blood, before I added in ten ticks taken from a tinker-made clock. I pinched a tiny thread from the edge of Wispy, causing him to grumble in his sleep. Pressing the thread against the disk activated it. It began to warm against my skin. I quickly pressed it into a gap in the wooden floor, stood, and strode to the edge of the ship with my head held high.
I jumped off the ship and walked in the direction of the café, with a grin on my face.
“You’re really quite something,” Tyn said to me with a smile.
I laughed and said, “You have no idea.”
He looked at me with mild bemusement. We were almost to the café when the disk went off. The fireball arced high in the sky. The merchants went flying into the ocean. They should have known better than to screw with an alchemist.
32
We claimed a corner table in a new café after we’d gathered our bags. We ordered multiple cakes and pots of coffee. I was feeling the need for copious amounts of sugar and caffeine. Fein had told us the original airship that had been sent to collect us had been sabotaged. A new airship was on its way. We had three hours to kill while waiting for the airship. Tyn had been withdrawn since his phone call with Fein. The Cait Sidhe was growing on me. I didn’t like seeing him distant and closed off.
“Everything ok with Fein?” I asked him casually.
He raised his eyes to look at me, his expression sullen. “Fine.”
I raised an eyebrow and bit into the multi-layered cake I’d picked up. The taste was rich and warm, and entirely unexpected. The shortbread layers were thin and crisp with cardamom flavouring that stood in glorious contrast to the vibrant plum jam between the layers. I closed my eyes and smiled, savouring the taste.
“You can talk to me,” I said gently to Tyn.
He sighed. If he were in his cat form, his tail would have been twitching.
“I miss him,” he said, before he looked away.
“You’re very close, that’s natural and understandable,” Erin said.
Tyn relaxed a little. I could see him rolling the thoughts and words around his mouth, trying to arrange them in the way that he was happy with.
“We’re not as close as I would like.”
I looked to Erin. I was shit with things like this.
“Is that his choice…?” Erin asked.
Tyn sighed and took a drink of his strong black coffee.
“No. It’s my past getting in the way,” he said bitterly.
“Talk to him,” I said gently.
He raised his eyes to mine.
“I can’t,” he growled.
“You don’t have to tell him everything, just, ‘I want more’. Then let him make the next move,” Erin said.
Tyn narrowed his eyes at her
.
Erin shrugged. “No one’s going to push or force you. I just think you’d be happier if you said those three words.”
Tyn sighed and bit into his cake. He held the food in his mouth and frowned at the rest of the cake on his plate.
“Not your thing?” I asked.
“It’s… sweeter than I’m used to,” he said.
I reached across the table to take the plate from him, as he didn’t seem like he wanted any more. He pulled the plate closer to him with one hand while his other hand shot across the table and speared a piece of my cake.
“Mine’s better,” he said with a smile once he’d eaten his stolen piece of my cake.
We laughed and the tension dissipated.
“Tell us about this airship,” Erin said.
Tyn rolled his eyes and took another drink of his coffee.
“They procure desirable objects in return for a healthy fee,” he said.
“You work for Fein and you don’t approve of criminals?” I said with a grin.
“I enjoy the company of criminals, but these particular criminals are distasteful.”
Now he’d piqued my curiosity. I was dying to know what the problem was with this airship crew.
The airship was a small affair with a crew of some six people. We were greeted with large grins and offers of the finest coffee in Europe. Tyn stood in the middle of the pale wood deck, crossed his arms, and stared down the older woman with her hair in a tight bun.
“What’s the payment?” Tyn demanded.
The woman’s grin widened. She tilted her head in my direction.
“You have an alchemist; I’m sure she has something worth our time,” the captain said.
Tyn looked between me and her. I didn’t have much on me. I’d packed light with the expectation of needing to move quickly. I unhooked the fire powder from my belt and held it out for Tyn.
“It adheres to whatever touches it and burns for three solid seconds. It burns as hot as drake fire,” I said.
I didn’t like the idea of strangers having that powder. It was dangerous and potent. Still, we needed to get to Barcelona, and these were our best chance.
The Captain took the powder from Tyn and turned to the man at her left, a lean man with a strong jaw and pale grey eyes.
“Looks like we’re making that stop on the way after all,” the captain said.
The man’s grin became razor-sharp.
“I’ll prep the crew,” he said before he headed into the cabin area.
“Hold on, kitten, we’re taking off,” the captain said to Tyn.
“Do not call me ‘kitten,’” Tyn spat.
The captain shook her head. “Sorry, name’s stuck now.”
Two women with long blonde hair pulled back into intricate braids took up positions on either side of the deck. Like the rest of the crew, they wore a mix of pale blues and soft silvers, the fabrics all lightweight and cut to allow maximum movement. Each woman faced outwards and began moving their hands in slow methodical patterns. The air moved around us and the ship bringing us to lift off the ground and begin our journey. I’d never seen a purely elemental-run ship before. I’d only travelled on those that used tinker-made engines with assistance from the elementals.
One of the crew had formed a bubble around the airship that stopped everyone from being buffeted by the strong winds and allowed us to continue breathing and moving normally. Erin and I strolled somewhat casually to the edge of the ship and watched the ocean below us as we ascended and flew towards Barcelona. In that moment, I was incredibly jealous of those air elementals and their freedom.
33
Once the airship had evened out and settled into its path, Tyn joined Erin and me.
“They’re making a stop in Dublin, it’s supposed to be brief and shouldn’t inhibit our trip to Barcelona,” Tyn said.
“What’s the stop for?” I asked.
Tyn pursed his lips. “They’re acquiring a new item.”
I laughed. “And they’re not doing that legally.”
“It’s getting cold out here. There’s food and comfort in the cabin,” he said before leaving for said cabin.
Erin rubbed her arms. “It would be nice to sit and enjoy a hot drink.”
I hooked my arm around hers. “I’m sure the view will be just as stunning from in there.”
We were almost to the cabin when the light caught the silver rail around the deck. Something dark was inscribed into the metal.
“I’ll see you in the cabin in a moment,” I said.
Erin shook her head and left me to run my fingers over the sigil inscribed on the railing. There were strings of them in small clusters all around the ship. I didn’t know how I’d missed it before. The air magic brushed my fingertips when I allowed them to rest on an individual sigil.
“You didn’t think blood and tattoo magicians were the only ones to use sigils, did you?” a younger woman with pitch-coloured hair and vivid violet eyes said.
“I can’t say I’ve ever looked into it, you can’t put a sigil into alchemy,” I said with a smile.
“They help us with our workings. The sigils smooth out the air magic and reduce the amount of energy we need to expend to run the ship.”
She put her finger up to stop me from asking the myriad of questions that popped into my mind.
“Go and join Kitten and your little friend, no questions,” she said firmly.
I grazed my teeth over her fingertip, causing her to remove it quickly. I stepped around the woman and walked up to the captain, who was leaning against the railing watching the world go by beneath us.
“Did you form the sigil marked into the ship? And while we’re on the topic, how does that magic work?” I asked her as I leaned against the railing next to her.
The captain laughed and looked at me with merriment dancing in her eyes.
“I didn’t personally form the sigils, no, and as I’m sure you’ve already been told, the magic smooths out the air magic. Now go inside with Kitten, neither I nor my crew will answer any more of your questions. We’re not fools, knowledge is worth a lot of money.”
I pushed aside my frustration and joined Tyn and Erin in the cabin. It was plushly decorated with soft seats and extra cushions. The coffee smelled absolutely divine. I wondered if they’d added a little something to it. Tyn was lost in his own world as he gazed out the window, watching the greenery of Ireland pass by below. I sat next to Erin and let everything slip away as I sank into the seat. It was good to relax when the opportunity arose.
The entire crew gathered out on the deck, all six of them, as the ship began to descend over the grey rooves of Dublin.
“Zeva, Dan, you’re up!” the captain shouted.
A younger woman with rich cinnamon-coloured skin and black hair down to her waist stood to attention with an older man at her side.
“The alchemist says this will burn as hot as drake fire for three seconds. Make the most of it.” The captain tossed the pouch to the woman.
The ship hadn’t finished moving when they jumped off the side of the airship and ran across the copper roof towards a small door. The captain joined the two elementals in weaving the air around the ship. She helped it land softly on the adjacent grey roof where we waited. Everyone was tense, all eyes focused on the small door across the pale green roof.
After a few minutes, shouts erupted from within the building, which caused Tyn to sigh.
“Professional,” he said drily.
Zeva and Dan burst out of the door and sprinted across the roof. The woman had something in her hand. They jumped the gap between the copper and grey rooves and threw themselves over the railing of the airship as it began rising once more.
“Quicker!” the captain shouted.
A cluster of earth elementals was racing across the copper roof. Their deep-green clothing suggested they were high ranking. The gold pins adorning their chests said they were leaders in the local earth elemental guild.
“You stole
from the guild…?” Tyn demanded.
The captain grinned.
“’Aim big’ is our motto,” she said.
“Rise! We need to get out of their reach!” the captain shouted.
Three elementals were focused, feet spread wide and rooted to the wooden deck as they moved their hands in quick, smooth motions. The air billowed around us as the airship rose at a quick pace. It began to rock back and forth.
“They’re calling to the wood! Come on, you can do better than this!” the captain shouted.
I grabbed onto the mast when the ship began leaning heavily to one side. Tyn wrapped his arm around Erin’s waist and pulled her to the cabin doorway, which she grasped onto.
The ship levelled out and a victorious cheer went out from the crew.
The cheer was cut short when a full-sized gryphon appeared below us.
“Fuck! Prepare for incoming gryphon!” the captain shouted.
The gryphon must have been a tattoo on one of the earth elementals. I’d never seen a full gryphon before, though pygmy gryphons were common as both pets and feral creatures in London and Prague. Logan had tried to convince me get a corvid pygmy gryphon in college, but I didn’t think it would adapt well to my lifestyle.
Unlike the pygmy gryphons, which are the size of a large house cat, the full gryphon was as big as a pony. It screeched as it flapped its huge wings and cut the distance between itself and the ship with remarkable speed. The elementals were working hard. Sweat dripped from their brows as they wove the air magic as quickly as they could muster. The gryphon pinned its wings back and dove for the ship. An older woman picked up a large club from a lockbox near the cabin before she braced herself and held the club at ready to take on the gryphon.
The beast pulled up at the last second and tried to sink its long claws into the shoulders of one of the elementals that was keeping the ship moving. The woman lost her concentration and dropped to the ground at the last second. The airship dropped like a stone. I clung onto the rope nearest me and prayed to the gods.
Another elemental stepped in and stopped the alarming descent, but the gryphon was coming back around again.
