Fall of Sky City (A Steampunk Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Novel) (Devices of War)

by Blooding, SM

  “Just concentrate on yer Mark,” he shouted back. He glanced at me over his shoulder and did a double take. “Holy dirt, Synn. Crap.”

  I sent him a churlish glare and shook my head, staring down at my arms. The Mark had receded a bit since I’d first seen it. It had almost completely disappeared from my arms. I saw now, however, that it was coming back down my right arm. Interesting.

  The sound of sand stirring around us continued. “Anytime ye’re ready, lad.”

  Okay. Staring at them obviously wasn’t good enough. I shook my head and thought back. What was the trigger for making the pistol work? I’d just pointed it and shot.

  I raised my right arm, pointed it at the sand and thought about fire shooting from my hand.

  Nothing.

  “Jus’ relax,” Joshua said calmly, taking a couple of steps back. “You’ll ge’ this.”

  “And if I don’t?”

  “Then I guess I’ll jus’ send up a sand storm to spook ‘em all away.”

  I stared at him in surprise. “You can do that?”

  He shrugged and turned his attention back to the sand. “I can sure try.”

  I closed my eyes, my arms out.

  “It’s different for each o’ us,” Joshua said calmly. “For me, it’s abou’ growin’ things and bein’ grounded. Yvette has ta be in a full rage ta use her Mark. For Keeley, she has ta be very angry, scared or hurt.”

  “They’re Marked?”

  “Lad,” he said, turning to me, “we all are. It’s the only way we were allowed to remain alive in the care of the Hands. Anyone who remained unMarked by the age of ten was killed.”

  A shiver ran through me.

  That annoying constant voice trying to find a way to surrender stilled and went quiet.

  “Wha’s yer trigger?”

  I closed my eyes and searched my heart. During the escape, it had been all about staying alive. With the beetles, it had been about not being eaten. With my father and in Sky City’s square—

  I choked off the thought, my heart twitching.

  My Marks rose, heating, writhing.

  I tried to cool them, cool my emotions, but the Marks had found what they needed. Pain, anger, hurt, rage, the need to live.

  Joshua laughed, the sands swirling around us. “Tha’s it, lad. Now focus. We don’ want ta box ourselves in here, but it’d sure be nice to have a slight cover for the tail.”

  I shook out my arms, trails of heat beading all around me. Large pieces of sand dropped from the air like tiny hail.

  “Tha’s great, lad. Now focus a little outward.”

  Focus a little outward. Yeah right. I had no idea what I was doing. Focus.

  But as soon as the thought was in my mind, tendrils of lava lightning drifted out and around the tail of the plane. The air hissed. The sand crackled, solidified, drooped—

  And nearly took the tail right off.

  “Hey, now,” Joshua shouted, “we migh’ be buryin’ her, but she’s still mine. Take care o’ her!”

  Right. The glass cover needed support. With that thought, fiery lashes moved to the bottom and rose.

  “Not behind ye, lad. We need a way out.”

  I twisted to see what he was talking about. I was apparently working on all sides. Who knew I could do that? But I pulled all the whips of lava lightning to the front, dancing around Joshua and the tail of his plane, and melted the sand to cover it, protect it and shield us from sight.

  I felt a few of the lashes extend further, lightly caressing the plane along its body, up front, curving around the propellers of all four motors and hiding them in a waterfall of glass.

  “Tha’ should do it,” Joshua said. The sand didn’t stop, though. “If you’d just put the fire, or whate’er tha’ is, away so I can finish coverin’ us, tha’ would be fantastic.”

  Right. How was I supposed to do that?

  “Just think it, lad. Just say ye’re done and the Marks’ll go back.”

  I gave him a disbelieving look, but followed his direction. We were done. The sand was melted and we were now standing in the middle of a sauna. As the lava-like lashes returned to my flesh, they went from raging orange, to brown, and back to charred black. Surprisingly, the only thing I felt was heat without any pain. They were truly a part of me.

  Keeley and Yvette stumbled through the door, coughing.

  “What are you doing?” Yvette demanded.

  Keeley folded over, placing her hands on her knees, and coughed. “It’s bloody roasting in there.”

  “Sorry,” I muttered.

  Joshua sighed and the vines slithered back to his arms, the ends turning into blossoms. He nodded and picked up his shirt.

  I searched for mine too. It was stuck in the sand, half of it buried under the glass wall we’d just constructed. The vest lay beside it, undisturbed.

  Joshua shrugged. “It’s gettin’ ruddy warm anyway. Sleeves are overrated.”

  “Overrated,” I muttered, slipping the vest on and buttoning the three buttons. I felt naked. “It’ll be nice to wear real clothes again, not this stupid uniform anyway.”

  I turned to see both girls staring at me in awe.

  “That’s—” Yvette’s mouth fell open.

  “I’ve never seen a Mark like that,” Keeley said. “Can I touch it?”

  “He’s not in a petting zoo,” Haji said, exiting the door and glaring at us. “What did the two of you do?”

  Joshua gestured to the glass wall we’d just built.

  Haji stared at it for a moment and then shrugged. “It is about to be tested.”

  The sound of the planes could be heard a lot better now that the sand was still. The glass walls amplified the sound. The opening was rough, wobbly and still cooling.

  I peered through it, scanning the horizon, but the sky was empty. It didn’t help that my “horizon” was a tall dune about twenty metres directly in front of me.

  “We need a better view,” Haji said beside me. “I’m going out.”

  “I’m coming with.”

  He held out a hand. “Do not do anything stupid.”

  We scrambled out of the large opening and crawled up the dune on hands and feet.

  The fleet of dark shapes with flapping metal wings were close enough to tell they were planes, not specks. They were closing in fast. They weren’t headed right at us. There were probably about forty or fifty of them in a wide formation, trying to cover as much ground as possible.

  Haji and I ran back to the cover of the glass dome. “They’re almost on top of us.”

  We all ducked down. Like that was going to help. But it was a natural response. It didn’t make sense to hide while standing up. I shook my head and watched through the opening.

  With the planes in a long line, it was possible that one of the pilots could get a look into our little cavern. But as long as they didn’t see one of us, the only thing they’d really see was sand.

  The planes buzzed low overhead, so low the sand blew from one dune and showered us. We shuffled to the other side and watched them fly off.

  “Do you think it’s over?” Yvette asked.

  “Seems pretty strange if it is,” I said, watching them continue to fly in one direction in their sweeping line. “Do they really think that’s going to help?”

  Haji stared after them and scratched his head. “What are they going to accomplish with that?”

  Keeley shook her head and searched in the opposite direction. “Maybe they hope to catch us with our guard down?”

  “Yeah,” Joshua said, his lilt deepening, “they fly over an’ then all of a sudden we’re poppin’ our heads out and flaggin’ ‘em down trying to get caught all over again.”

  You know you want to.

  No. I didn’t.

  “We are in a desert,” Keeley said.

  Haji nodded. “Most Sky People wouldn’t know the first thing about surviving a day in the desert.”

  Joshua punched him in the arm good heartedly. “Good thin’ we brought
all those provisions, eh?”

  Haji just shook his head and headed toward the rear of the plane. “Well, if they are not going to find us, I am going to see what I can do about repairing the radio.”

  I raised my eyebrows and opened my mouth.

  Joshua glared in my direction and shook his head.

  I closed it and continued to stare after the passing planes.

  “Ah, there,” Keeley shouted, pointing behind us. “There are more.”

  Joshua ducked behind the other side of the glass opening and watched them. “Do you think they have radar?”

  Keeley shook her head, but didn’t say anything.

  There wasn’t enough room on the other side to see what they saw. I heard a roar that was different than the whine of the smaller planes, but couldn’t quite tell what it was. “What do you see?”

  “Six larger planes,” Joshua said.

  “Like this one?”

  He shook his head. “Not tha’ big.” He blinked wildly and ducked down. “People are jumpin’ out of ‘em!”

  I stared at him in surprise and hopped to the other side. I had to see that.

  Sure enough, people had jumped out of the plane and were drifting slowly to the ground with some balloon things over them. What were they doing?

  However, before we could ask, gunfire cascaded across the dunes.

  The men in the air jerked, twisted, tried to shoot back, but most of them drooped in their strings. A few balloons were shot full of holes. They careened to the earth in a crazy circle, the person in the balloon limp.

  Joshua looked at me. “Could this be yer backup?”

  I searched the sky, but didn’t see a single airship. I shook my head. “No. I don’t think so. You’d see them before you heard gun fire.”

  “Who, then?” Yvette asked, crouching low. “And are they friendly?”

  “That’s a very good question.”

  One that was answered in the next few minutes, as we all prepared with what little we had.

  Ryo walked over the dune and slid down the other side. He stopped in front of me and smiled grimly, putting his rifle over his shoulder and grabbing my arm, pulling me into a three pat hug. “Synn, Ino is glad to see you.” He pulled away, holding me by the shoulders. “Come. We offer protection, but we must leave this place.”

  Finally, something was going right. It was about time.

  CHAPTER 18

  INO CITY UNDER THE SEA

  When Ryo and his troop shot down the paratroopers, they’d drawn some attention. The planes were circling back on us. Ryo’s sand colored clothes blended in nicely with the landscape, but his black hair tightly pulled back didn’t help. The rest of his band was dressed the same way. He issued orders and they spread out, lying on the dunes, their weapons pointed to the sky.

  Ryo looked at me. “Weapons?”

  Keeley shook her head. “Exhausted.”

  He narrowed his gaze on me. “Heard you might have something special in your arsenal.”

  “Who told you that?” I asked.

  “I have my sources.” He didn’t expand. “So you want to use it or not?”

  I glanced at Joshua.

  He shrugged. “Couldn’t hurt an’ we do have a lo’ of enemies out there. Any way to get ‘em off our tail so we can pull a hasty retreat would be fantastic.”

  I was getting really tired of running.

  So don’t, the voice whispered through my mind. Come back to Sky City.

  I shook my head and concentrated on the task at hand. “Someone might want to get Haji.” I pulled out my pistol, raised it up to the sky, sighted on one of the larger birds and pulled the trigger.

  Pain shot through my skull. I gritted my teeth and continue to hold the trigger. I wasn’t going back.

  Lightning lava shot out, rippled along the outer skin of the plane and shot to the two on either side of it. They wobbled in the air before heading to the ground. Their trajectory was dangerously close.

  “Whoa,” Ryo said. “That’s pretty neat.”

  “Yeah,” I grumbled. “It’ll be really neat when you’re dragging me out of here, too.”

  Joshua rolled his eyes.

  I gave him a disgruntled look. “Do you think a sand storm might be helpful here?”

  Ryo’s ears perked up. “Sand storm?”

  Joshua winked and took his shirt off. “Just make sure I don’ get shot.”

  I nodded and aimed for the sky again.

  His Mark lifted in twisting vines and the sands rose, swirling around us, making it difficult to see.

  I couldn’t find anything to aim at. “Could you make a way for me to see, at least? Try taking down some of the planes!”

  He nodded and sent the sands further, higher, reaching, extending, touching, tasting, ripping and taking down several in one fell swoop. They tried to regain altitude, but the earth was just too much to overcome.

  Between all the weapons and Joshua’s dust devils, the fleet of Hands’ planes fell from the sky.

  Well, at least most of them. Some of them might have survived and hidden. I didn’t know. Ryo sent his team to investigate. They came back and gave him a nod.

  Ryo went through Joshua’s plane, talking quietly to Keeley, and assessed how much needed to be transported.

  “Where’s your lethara?” I asked.

  He gave me a brief nod. “You’ll see.”

  I watched the sands shift. Was he being guarded for a reason?

  He crossed his arms over his chest, his voice thick with disapproval. “You wear the uniform of the Hands.”

  I fingered my vest, fighting the shake of my hand as it pulsed to the beat in my skull. “It’s the only clothes I have.”

  His expression was immobile.

  I took a step closer, tipping my head, my stance loose. “I was actually looking forward to seeing the Yusrra Samma so I could get some real clothes.”

  “What else did they do to you?”

  Fear fluttered in the back of my mind. Would they turn me away if they knew? Would I be stranded here on my own? Would I be forced to return to the Hands? To her? “Nothing. I might have learned a few things, but I’m still me.”

  He nodded, his cheekbones drawn, a frown marring his forehead. “Ino.”

  I shook my head, confused. “El’Asim.”

  “With the Mark of Ino.”

  Oh. I shrugged. “Not quite, but we all knew it was possible.”

  He took a step closer so we were nose to nose.

  I didn’t back away. I wasn’t sure what was going on. What was he trying to prove? What did he want?

  His gaze penetrated mine. “You look like Father, act like him.”

  Where was he going with this? “And you like Mother.”

  “So how do you bear the Mark of our Family?”

  The same way he did. “Ino blood runs through my veins.”

  He was silent for a long moment. “Can I trust you, Synn?”

  My lips flattened. I wanted to tell him yes. I wanted to be brought back in, to be free, to fly the skies, but i had to be honest. I couldn’t lie, not to my brother. I ducked my head. “No.”

  He watched me without saying a word.

  “I’m compulsed, Ryo.” I swallowed and raised my chin, dread filling me. He could leave me here. He should. “Nix is trying to get me back. It’s taking everything I have to resist.”

  “You didn’t seem to have too much trouble just now.”

  “They were attacking. It’s easier to talk myself out of trying to go with them when they’re trying to kill me.”

  He glanced at my bare arms. “Let me see your Mark. The entire Mark.”

  I winced, ground my teeth and removed my vest.

  He frowned at my chest and arms. His head twisted on his neck to see my back.

  I felt like a prize war trophy.

  He stared at me. “She’s not going to let you go easily.”

  “No.” I slipped my vest back on. “She’s not.”

  He relaxed
and took a step back. “Well, we’re going to take you into custody. Thank you for being honest.”

  I nodded with relief.

  “That makes this a whole lot easier.” He raised his gun and smashed the butt of it against my head.

  * * *

  I woke to quiet and cool, lying on a hard, cold floor. Gentle sounds of bubbles wafted through the air. I blinked my eyes open. My head was pounding. I picked myself off the floor slowly. Movement made my throbbing head scream. Dear Sky Mother! Why did people think they had to hit me over the head all the time? I was sure there’d be brain damage eventually.

  I was in a room I’d never seen. The opaque walls moved. I could see flickers of sunlight through water. What? I walked closer to the wall and reached out, touching it with hesitant hands.

  The wall flinched and shied away. A current thrummed through my arm as a splash of yellow light spasmed across the wall, turning into green.

  I returned my attention to the room, massaging the feeling back into my hand. The floor was black tile. The pillows thrown along the outer edge were turquoise and lavender. A trunk dominated the far corner, veins of effervescent light running along it’s pulsing length.

  I was in a lethara. I didn’t know they could submerge. It made sense though. No wonder they were hard to find. When they were in danger, they could just sink. That left me with other questions. How was there enough air to breathe? Granted, a lethara was huge. They were able to house entire cities within their trunks. How long could one of them stay underneath the water before needing to surface?

  Why was I down here? How had I gotten here? Had they knocked me out so I wouldn’t try to escape, or so that I couldn’t tell where they were if I managed to get myself caught? The outer skin as it rippled before me.

  Somewhere in the darker depths of the ocean, something large and slow appeared, and it was coming right up to us. I’d never seen anything like it. It looked like…well, like a cow almost, with two very large flat arms. Its mouth opened and I took a startled step back. The thing could eat an airship in one large gulp. Holy Father of Sky!

  Knowing that I was a security risk, I decided to wait. It was respectful and I’d been taught to respect my elders and my mother’s people since I was small. But also, I just wanted to be free. I closed my eyes and shook my head. I really just wanted to be free.