by Blooding, SM
Ryo grasped Haji’s arm. “How far out are they? Where were you attacked? Were you followed?”
Haji’s expression melted, tears streaming from his eyes.
My heart hurt for him. All I wanted to do was to hit something, kill something. I needed a target.
My father’s tone was low. “Keep it in check, Synn.”
“They’re close,” Haji said, his voice deep with tears. “I didn’t know what else to do, where else to go.” A sob ripped from his chest. “They took everyone.”
“How did you manage to get your ship here?” My mother’s voice was sharp as she rose to her feet.
“Well, he didn’t do a great job of it,” Oki said as she entered the tent. “Okaasan, he crashed his ship. He and a handful of children were sailing it.” She shook her head helplessly. “The Hands can’t be far behind him. Something must be done. We are helpless.”
“Kadar,” my mother said, gripping my father’s shoulder.
My father nodded and stood. “Synn.”
I scrambled to my feet, glancing at my friend one last time before following Father out of the hut and through the snow city.
He brought his shell horn to his lips, trumpeting alarm into the air. Several other horns joined his, low, high and in between.
Saqr flew out of the hut, his screeching call reaching high into the sky. The sounds of hundreds of other falcons’ cries lit the air.
People walked briskly, staring up at their ice-trapped lethara in fear. There was nothing they could do.
Father and I ran to the Yusrra Samma. The platforms were already loading our people onto the ship. As soon as Father was on board, he went to the quarterdeck and raised the brass communication tube to the metal grill on his face shield. “Take us fifty-eight degrees to port, Isra, in a three-by-eight rise. Take us to fighting altitude.”
“Yes, sayyd,” I heard her voice say through the tube.
I watched the crew as we rose in the air, our face shields and goggles firmly in place. I felt safe up here, in my sky. I knew we’d find a solution. We would find a way to save the Umira Family. I headed to the stairs, but Father stopped me.
“Synn, we will do what we must to protect our Families, but we are not here for heroics.”
I met his gaze. “We’re going to get his Family back, his sisters, his mother.”
“It’s too late for them. We need to buy time for your mother’s people. If at all possible, we need to draw the Hands away. That is all.”
“But—”
He cut me off with a slash of his hand. “That is all, Synn. We can do nothing more.”
Anger rushed through me and I shook my head. “We have never run from battle before.”
“And we will not this time, but, son—” He shook me. “It is our duty to protect our people, not to avenge a friend at the sacrifice of those we are sworn to protect.”
I pulled away from him. There had to be a way.
“You still have much to learn about being a man.” He turned away, the brass cone of the talking tube in his hand. “Who has eyes on the Hands? How many are we facing?”
Embarrassment flooded through me. I pulled my spyglass from my belt and put it to the lens of my goggles.
Isra Um’Binte, Father’s second, stood on the fo’c’sle shouting orders, peering through her own spyglass. Even her face shield was scarred. She shook her head and shouted to those around her.
The communication tube remained silent.
I lifted my glass off deck and scanned the horizon in all directions. My spyglass was small. I didn’t need to use it often, but still, I should have seen something. Haji was right when he said he wasn’t a great airman. It was doubtful he could have outrun them. Was it possible that the Hands hadn’t pursued?
I stashed my spyglass and moved to the desk behind us. By now, the crew was ready. The sails were in order, the air jelly’s rigging had been cinched and secured to level us out.
We needed a target. The ropes creaked. The sails snapped.
I pulled out a large wooden box and removed the lid with care. Inside was my own creation, my optiscope. It was heavy and large. I needed a three legged stand to see through it. I used it to chart the stars.
Today, I turned it to the horizon.
The knobs clicked as I adjusted the focus. The deck disappeared from my two-eyed view port and all that was left was sky. Scanning. Scanning.
There!
Approximately three kilometres off of the starboard horizon was a blip.
A few more clicks of the knobs and the blip became black ships. A few more and the ships became something…I’d never seen before.
“Father, I see them.”
“Where?” He came to my side.
I drew the focus of my scope to its highest resolution and shook my head in wonder. My father placed his eye to the scope to observe.
An entire fleet of ships with no sails and no air jellies loomed on the horizon.
Father took a step back, the red lenses of his goggles reflecting the white sunlight of Sang as he stared at my scope.
Fear sent chills down my arms, giving my anger pause. “What do we do?”
“Can you gain their bearing?”
I put my goggles on top of my head and applied my eyes to the view port, watching, waiting, trailing. “They’re coming right at us.” I stood up.“I think we’ve been made.”
He nodded and moved to the table with the charts. “We need to gradually change our heading. From this far out, it’s possible they would not notice. Ensure they cannot trace our bearing to Ino City.”
I came to stand next to him. “What game are we playing?”
He put his lips to his communication tube and issued the orders to change the sail. “We will use their ignorance to our advantage.”
“Sir?”
He picked up the oil pencil and charted a quick course. “They do not know we can see them. They’re probably betting on our limited technologies. They’ll be cocky and more willing to overlook our original heading.”
“And won’t follow it back to Mother.”
“Correct. Additionally,” he said, giving me his full attention, “they do not know that the Families have made alliances. In their histories, we have never before allied ourselves with one another except to bring down the priests. If they see one Family, they will not assume they will find another. They will think it odd enough they found two in one day.”
That made sense. But we were relying too heavily on assumptions.
“Be ready.”
I was quick to obey. I stashed the optiscope, and went to my quarters, belting on my other weapons. I ditched the heavy coat. I had a lighter, red one that would be better if we had to fight our way out. I grabbed my curved swords, strapping them on my back, a plasma pistol to my thigh. It didn’t work well all the time. Okay. It worked maybe half the time, but when it did, it was fabulous. I put a shooter in my boot, a second knife in the other.
Then I was back on deck with the rest of our crew, waiting.
“They’ve seen us,” Father blared over the horn. “At the ready.”
Silence filled the sky. Someone coughed on the ship closest to us.
Then a whir filled the air. Alarm spread over the decks of our fleet, hundreds of people shouting from over fifty ships. That was short lived, though. We were seasoned. We were ready for almost anything.
My father joined me on the deck. “That’s a queen’s vessel.”
I shot him a look of surprise. “You’re sure of this?”
He nodded.
I turned back to the lumbering ships as they came closer, easier to see. I pulled out my spyglass and peered along the hull. Wands.
A chill ran through me.
“It’s Nix, sir,” Isra said, coming to stand beside her captain. She took off her face shielf, the long scar along her cheek twitching as she ground her teeth.
“Queen Nix,” my father reminded gruffly, setting his face shield on the map table.
&nbs
p; She raised a single black brow but said nothing further.
I took my face shield off, stashing it in my pouch. This far up, the winds were brutal and harsh, cutting through the skin like a knife, but communication was often difficult through the it as it distorted words. I was a man of the air, I reminded myself. I was hardened to this. That didn’t stop my bone wracking shiver.
He put the brass tube to his mouth. “Drop sail and hold position eight decametres out.”
I looked at him in surprise as the ship came alive with activity. “Why so far?”
“Their cannons have better range.” He moved to the quarterdeck. “Raise the flag of communication.”
Two men rushed to do as instructed.
A frown furrowed Father’s brow as he brought out the box that contained our non-Family radio. He waited for the purple and orange flag to rise, then he spun the handle on the side of the box. “El’Asim to the House of Wands, please respond,” he said in Handish.
Static crackled from the box.
“El’Asim to the House of Wands, please respond.”
“House of Wands to El’Asim,” a nasally voice came through, “please state your business.”
Father took in a deep breath. “We’re traveling to summer grounds and wish to pass in peace.”
The other side was silent for a long moment. “Kadar,” a soft female voice said over the static. “I would offer you the opportunity of parlay.”
“Queen Nix.” Father’s jaw was clenched as he spun the brass handle again, recharging the coil inside. “We merely seek to pass unmolested.”
“The time of hiding has passed, Kadar El’Asim.” Her voice was like velvet laced with steel. “As you can see, our fleet far surpasses your own. We can and will find you no matter where you go.”
Fear thrummed lightly in my mind. How could I fight that? With my swords and my plasma pistol?
Could I save Haji’s Family? How would I face him if I told him I cowered before a woman because her fleet of ships were made of metal?
“There’s a lot of air, Queen,” my father said calmly.
“I’ll make sure there’s a lot less of it.”
Father stared at the box, his hand clenching and relaxing, clenching and relaxing.
That wasn’t making me feel any better.
“I offer you a flag of truce, Kadar.” The queen’s voice came across in a sing song. “I assure you, this offer will not come again.”
He rubbed a finger over the bridge of his nose. “Agreed. We will meet within four decametres. Maintain your elevation.”
“You do not trust me?”
“The day is too young for trust.” He let the static die. “Lower the communication flag and raise the flag of truce.”
The crew skittered on deck with an air of nervousness.
Who was this woman who held my best friend’s Family, who was going to kill them? What kind of technologies did the Hands truly have?
Father turned to Isra. “The queen has offered truce, which means we will be on her ship. I will take Synn and three others, no more. If we do not make it back within fifteen minutes, have the Fleet rise to an elevation of fifteen thousand feet and ride full sail to the north-northeast.”
“What about you?” Quiet alarm slipped over her eyes, but the rest of her scarred face remained silent and harsh.
“It will be too late for us. Just climb and get out of here.”
She nodded and disappeared amongst the crew, picking up the hand flags and issuing the silent commands over the rail of the ship.
I stood at the bow, eagerly watching the queen’s huge, black ship approach. It was monstrous and heavy, made of metal, and it was loud. There were so many motors and fans. A bank of six propellers jutted from either side.
The inventor in me was almost giddy. The rebel in me just wanted to figure out how it ticked so I could destroy it. The friend in me wanted to hurt someone. Badly. However, fear tainted all of me.
Father gripped my shoulder, reigning me in. “You follow my lead. Do not speak out of turn. And if things should turn badly—” He paused and raised his face to the wind. “You run like a sky cat is on your tail. Do not look back.”
I watched the approaching metal hull, anger filling me with resolve. He obviously didn’t know me very well.
CHAPTER 3
MARKED
Our ships met high above our fleets. The air was thick with noise, the winds fiercer than normal. These monstrous beasts destroyed the gentle quiet of the sky. Breathing without our face shields was impossible.
The queen’s ship didn’t move with the air. At all. The Yusrra Samma bobbed with the currents. When the boarding plank swept across the open space connecting our two ships, a thread of trepidation tiptoed through me as I left the world I knew, and stepped onto something new and unexplored. What traps had the queen set up for us? If my father told me to run, would I be able to?
Father and I crossed the space between ships and stood waiting for our men to join us. Several men in black and red uniforms surrounded us. Two of them wore top hats. I stared at them incredulously. They were not designed for life in the sky. One quick breeze and those hats were lost. However, none of them had face shields, though they all wore black metal and leather goggles. How were they able to survive these winds without face shields?
“We seem to be a bit outnumbered,” the man beside me said in Handish.
“It is only because they fear us,” Father replied.
“I fear no one, Kadar,” the silky voice said from somewhere behind the line of uniformed guards. “You of all people should know that.”
Father said nothing, his expression remaining firm.
The line of opposing men parted and a tall, curvaceous woman stepped through. She wore a dress cinched tightly around her waist, that flowed outward in sculptured ruffles of deep red satin and gold dipped black lace.
I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.
Her lips curled as she looked us over.
Her dark brown hair fell to her waist. Parts of it were woven around a gold, gear-work crown. The gears creaked, turning three phoenixes on spinning sticks. Her dark eyes were highlighted with kohl. The collar circling her neck was made of the strange black metal and dripped in rubies along her shoulders. A black and ruby spider rested above her ample bosom. She was easily the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.
I sneered. How could something so beautiful be so twisted?
She sauntered to us and stopped just beyond arm’s reach. One hand settled on her hip as she surveyed our men. “So few?”
“No more were needed,” Father said gruffly.
“Hmm.” A dark eyebrow rose, her eyes narrowing, her full lips flattening. “Then I do not need all these protectors, do I?”
“You did say we were under a flag of truce, Queen Nix.” Father shifted his weight. “You offered parlay?”
She waved a long fingered hand. One finger sparkled from a diamond claw.
I blinked in surprise. A sky cat’s claw?
As most of her men dispersed and disappeared below decks through a single opening in the floor, she looked at us appraisingly. “You don’t need your masks here, Kadar. You should know better.”
He said nothing, but removed his face shield, stashing it away, and pulled his goggles to rest on top of his head.
The rest of us followed his lead.
She nodded once and turned toward the center of her ship.
It felt like we were walking on solid ground. I could hardly tell the craft was moving at all. My legs, used to moving with the currents, stumbled with the stillness. The air was surprisingly calm up here, and warm. How had they managed that feat?
“What brings you to this part of the world, Kadar?”
He walked beside her, his hands clasped behind his back. “These currents are my home, Nix.” Saqr flew through the air and landed on his shoulder, belching a flame as he tucked his wings in. “This is something you know well.”
“I thi
nk not.” She watched the spitfyre falcon from the corner of her eye. “You’re far from home, even for an air tribe.”
“The air is our home.”
“I know you prefer to stay closer to the islands of Absalom.”
Father remained quiet, his eyes never moving from hers.
She reached up, offering a bare finger to Saqr.
The falcon twisted his head, watching the red painted fingernail move closer, and snapped at it.
She chuckled and pulled her hand away. “That leads me to wonder what you are doing so far from your islands.”
“You will believe what you want to. I can tell you only that these currents are well known to us.”
She nodded. She flicked her hand toward me. “Your son?”
Father nodded.
“Introduce us.” Her expression was cool and supreme.
He took in a deep breath and stopped. “Queen Nix, may I present to you my son, Synn Kadar El’Asim.”
She came to stand in front of me, close. Too close for a stranger.
I glanced at Father.
He shook his head and held out a hand low, gesturing me to be still.
Her soft pink tongue ran over her bottom lip as her gaze slowly raked its way up my body. The corner of her mouth rose. She tipped her head, staring intently at my face. “El’Asim, you say?”
“Yes.”
I met her gaze, my hands clenched.
“Only El’Asim?”
“He is my son and mine alone.”
She stepped away and turned toward my father. I stared at her collar in horrified wonder. It was made of literal metal. She couldn’t move her head. “I meant no disrespect, Kadar.” Her smile widened. “He is a good looking young man. You wouldn’t by chance be willing to send him to our collegium as part of your treaty?”
“He is too old, even by your standards.”
“But he is Marked, I am sure.”
Father’s eyes were stone. “Marked or not, he is too old.”
She raised her face to the wind, her hair fluttering around her. “True. Pity, though. There is a great deal of potential in him. If only you’d come to me sooner.”
“But I did not.”
Something flashed across her face. “Indeed.”
