Warriors

by Nicholas Sansbury Smith

  At least she could hear better. The nanotech gel was a miracle drug, even if it made her sick after a few carafes of wine. The burns were already healing nicely.

  She forced herself out of bed and into the kitchen, where she brewed a cup of Cazador coffee. A gust of cool air blew through the window as she pushed the shutters open.

  The warmth of the sun on her face helped her feel a little better.

  That was good. Today was not a good day to be in pain. She had a hundred things to do before they departed on their mission to find and destroy the skinwalkers and the machines.

  She sipped a steaming mug of coffee at the open window as the sun rose. The shimmering orange ball continued to amaze her every time she woke to watch it rise. It was hard to imagine that the entire world had once witnessed this magic every day. Somehow, she was one of the very few privileged to see it now.

  And that was why she couldn’t stop fighting.

  “Mags,” Rodger mumbled.

  He sat up in her bed, a hand to his head.

  “I can’t find my glasses,” he said. “Do you know where . . .”

  He stood and staggered.

  “Gah . . . I don’t feel so good.”

  “You drank too much,” she said. “We both did.”

  “And I ate too much.” His hand went to his belly. Then he looked at her, squinting without his glasses. Realization crossed his face, and his eyes went wide.

  “Did we . . .” He looked down at the crinkled sheets.

  Magnolia just smiled.

  “Oh, my, my,” he mumbled to himself. His eyes flitted back to hers. “We finally . . .”

  She burst out laughing.

  Rodger stared for a moment, then felt about in the sheets until he found his glasses. He put them on and straightened his back, looking like a schoolchild with an important question.

  “Was it . . .”

  “It was great, Rodgeman,” she said. “You’re more agile than you look, that’s for sure.”

  A grin broke across his face.

  “I . . . I remember . . . most of it,” he said.

  She let his imagination run, but she wasn’t about to give him a round two. They had much to do today.

  “Here,” she said, handing him the cup. “Drink up and get your clothes on. We need to get to the marina.”

  As he dressed, the solemn look returned. Their lovemaking hadn’t helped his aching heart, but she had at least gotten him to smile and forget about revenge for a while.

  Twenty minutes later Magnolia tossed Rodger an apple, and they took the elevator cage down to the already bustling docks. Cazadores and sky people worked together loading boats that ferried supplies to Renegade and Shadow, anchored in the distance.

  She still hadn’t talked to X about where she and Rodger were going, but she had a feeling the king would want her in the air. As much as she wanted to finish off Carmela Moreto, she would do what was for the greater good.

  They would find out soon.

  X stood at the end of the pier with Ton and Victor. Miles crouched at his side, barking at the water. The dog turned when Magnolia and Rodger approached.

  “Hey, boy!” she called out.

  Miles trotted over, tail wagging.

  “Nice of you two to show up,” X said, wiping sweat from his brow.

  “Sorry, we . . .” Magnolia said.

  X had already turned to other things. Normally, she would have expected him to be hungover, but he hadn’t drunk a single drop last night and even looked well rested.

  “I need to talk to you both,” he said. “A lot has happened since last night.”

  He motioned for them to follow him over to the marina, where the Hell Divers were loading the last of the supplies to take to Discovery.

  X kept walking until he got to the moored Sea Wolf. A humming sound came from inside the vessel. He hopped over the railing and into the cabin.

  Magnolia and Rodger followed, passing the kitchen where she had cooked shark, and the bedroom where she had spent many restless nights. The hatch closed behind them, and X locked it from the inside.

  In the control room, she was surprised to find Michael welding on a robot, so early the morning after he just celebrated his marriage. But she was even more surprised to see Layla helping.

  But what shocked Magnolia was what they both were working on.

  Michael stood and pushed the goggles up over his fresh crew cut. He wasn’t working on just any robot. Cricket lay on the deck, cords connecting its “torso” to the Sea Wolf ’s display panel.

  “Whoa! When did the bot get back?” Rodger asked.

  “An hour ago,” Michael said. “Returned on its own, and I’m trying to figure out why. I didn’t even know it was coming back until I woke up.”

  “Four thirteen this morning, to be exact,” Layla said with a roll of her eyes.

  “Sorry,” Michael said. “I should have checked the signal before we went to bed.”

  “If it’s here, then we have no idea if the skinwalkers are still at their outpost,” Magnolia said.

  “That’s true,” X said, “but we should have a ton of intel on the Outrider, including where the skinwalkers likely are, and their numbers.”

  “Horn and Moreto are there for sure?” Rodger asked.

  “We don’t know yet,” Michael said. “The data from Cricket’s mainframe is just now being uploaded to the Sea Wolf ’s computer system.”

  “How much longer?” Rodger asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Layla said. “We had a problem getting things connected, but we’re good to go now.”

  “That’s her job,” Michael said. “I’m trying to fix the outside of our little friend.”

  Two of the drone’s four limbs were broken, and the exterior charred and dented. Magnolia was amazed it had even made it back.

  “Well, hell, that makes sense!” Layla suddenly said.

  “What?” Michael leaned over to look at the monitor on the display panel.

  “I figured out why it came back,” she said. “The battery unit was almost dead.”

  Michael moved over to the monitor. He shook his head and frowned. “I feel pretty stupid, but now we know why the data hasn’t been uploading quickly—it’s probably on power-saving mode.”

  Layla checked a few things on the monitor and nodded. “Yup, that’s exactly why.”

  “Can you charge it here?” Magnolia asked.

  “Yeah, it just takes longer than it would on Discovery,” Michael said while changing out wires.

  “Should we tell General Forge?” Magnolia asked X.

  “Not yet.”

  They watched Michael and Layla work in silence. Rodger paced impatiently. He stopped as a low wail rose in the distance.

  X went rigid, narrowing his brows.

  “Is that the emergency siren?” Layla asked, looking up.

  “Sure as hell sounds like it,” X growled. He stopped. “Michael, is it also possible Cricket returned because the skinwalkers left the Outrider?”

  “Yes, but we won’t know until I get this data downloaded,” Michael said.

  “fuck!” X shouted. “Michael, you and Layla get that data downloaded. Rodge and Mags, with me.”

  They rushed off the ship and back to where the Hell Divers were getting out their weapons. Ted tightened a bandanna over his silver hair, and Lena loaded a rifle.

  “What’s going on?” Arlo shouted.

  “Trouble!” X yelled back.

  Magnolia ran after X and the others, out into the sunshine. The emergency siren blasted so loud, it hurt her injured eardrum.

  Two militia soldiers came running. One held a handset.

  “Something set off one of our sensors on the border, King Xavier,” he said.

  “Give me the radio,” X said.
r />   The soldier handed it over, and X took off toward the end of a pier, where the armored war boat was waiting. Mac and Felipe were in the bow, feeding belts of ammunition through a hatch in the deck. Both men looked up from their work, covered in grease.

  Magnolia and Rodger hopped into the speedboat with X.

  “We got a major problem, Colonel,” X said to Mac. “You got those machine guns ready?”

  “Almost,” Mac said.

  “I need them ready in five minutes,” X said. He went to the controls and fired up the engine.

  Mac and Felipe went back to work while Magnolia and Rodger helped unmoor the boat. She untied one of the ropes and tossed it to the dockhand as several militia boats full of soldiers cruised away from the piers.

  She untied the last rope and threw it overboard.

  “Ready!” Magnolia shouted.

  X pushed down on the throttle. Miles barked as they took off, and X yelled over his shoulder for him to stay. Then he turned to Mags and Rodger.

  “Get ready,” he said.

  Rodger crouched and pulled his small revolver from the holster around his ankle. Magnolia had her sheathed blades and her blaster, but those weren’t going to do much good if the skinwalkers had returned.

  She searched for a weapon, but all she saw were the swords and spears Mac and Felipe had placed on the deck.

  “I need a . . .” Magnolia began. Her eyes lit on the .50-caliber machine gun installed in the bow, with a seat and lever that rotated the weapon.

  She moved to the bow, past X at the controls, stopping behind Mac and Felipe, who were still feeding ammunition into an open hatch.

  X held up a headset to his ear. Then he yelled, “Whatever set off those sensors hasn’t surfaced yet! My guess is subs!”

  Magnolia had figured this much already, but hearing it sent a chill down her spine. She climbed into the seat and grabbed the machine gun.

  “Almost ready!” Mac called out.

  An explosion of water in the distance confirmed their suspicions.

  The militia and Cazador vessels that had joined the hunt spread out in various directions, forming a surface net to surround the sub.

  “I’ve got you now, you son of a bitch,” she muttered. Closing an eye, she focused the iron sights where she had seen the geyser of ocean water.

  “Ready!” Mac said, patting her on the shoulder. He and Felipe both got off the deck and moved behind her with Rodger.

  X yelled into his radio, but she couldn’t hear much over the ringing in her ears.

  Another blast of water exploded into the air, rising above the militia boats, which had slowed. X also eased off on the throttle but continued straight for the target.

  She moved her finger to the trigger.

  One of the fishing boats suddenly rose into the air, slammed from the starboard side. The impact rolled the boat, sending Cazadores flying into the sea.

  She lined up the iron sights, ready to fire on the submarine that had rammed the vessel. A wall of water rose along the narrow sub, now on a crash course with their war boat.

  She pulled the trigger, sending rounds lancing into the water.

  But instead of hitting metal, they found flesh. Small geysers of blood spurted above the water. Magnolia squinted, not at a submarine, but at a whale the size of one.

  Memories of the beasts that had sunk Star Grazer surfaced in her mind as she pulled the trigger, firing a burst at the monstrous beast.

  X turned the boat, and she worked the chair lever to track the creature.

  Casings pinged off the deck as she fired again.

  It suddenly vanished under the water. But the trajectory was clear as the sky to Magnolia—the beast was making a run for the capitol tower.

  Clicking noises commanded her attention, and she looked right, at a pod of spinner dolphins that had emerged. They must have realized it a moment later, because they all went under and retreated in the opposite direction.

  A burst of water shot into the sky a few minutes later, and X gunned the war boat toward the surfaced whale. Lumpy, pink flesh broke the surface as it took in a breath. It was already halfway to the pier outside the capitol tower, where dozens of people were working.

  She sighted in again and prepared to pull the trigger, when multiple snakelike limbs writhed out of the water and slapped the mutant leviathan’s warty back.

  A high-pitched roaring sounded above the rumbling engines as the giant octopus wrapped its tentacular arms around the whale.

  It rolled, throwing up a wall of water and bringing the body of the gargantuan purple octopus above water for a split second.

  X laid off the throttle, and the boat coasted.

  Mac and Felipe moved up next to Magnolia, both of them throwing their hands in the air and cheering on the octopus they worshipped.

  She had seen one before, but this was a sight for the ages.

  The beasts fought for minutes, creating a growing red tinge in the water.

  Dozens of boats surrounded the battle, and on every deck, sailors and soldiers watched in awe. Many of the Cazadores held their spears and swords in the air, chanting for the octopus.

  In a final effort to shake its attacker, the whale rolled again, revealing bloody wounds across its back and belly.

  Waves rolled outward, and red bubbles formed as the monsters returned to the depths.

  The onlookers fell into silent anticipation, waiting for the whale to reemerge. But the only thing that surfaced was more blood.

  After a few moments, Mac raised his cutlass in the air.

  “Sharpen your spears, brothers and sisters!” he yelled. “The Octopus Lords are with us!”

  twenty-seven

  Late in the morning before he was to leave for Africa, Les had taken his wife and daughter to an open balcony on the back side of the capitol tower. The long platform stretching over the ocean was usually packed with people fishing, but not today. Everyone on the rigs was preparing for war.

  “Do you think I might catch one of those huge whales?” Phyl asked.

  Les laughed. “Let’s hope not, sweetie—then we’d have to clean it!”

  He had been working on Discovery on the rooftop of the Shark’s Cage, overseeing the final repairs, when the whale attacked. They were ahead of schedule on the airship, and he had decided to take the rest of the morning off and surprise Phyl by taking her here to fish.

  Katherine sat on a bench behind them, out of the sun, knitting a new pair of socks for Phyl. She had seemed surprised when he showed up at midmorning.

  Every few minutes, she looked up from her work, smiling. But there was a sadness in her gaze.

  Les could feel it, too. He was happy to be here with his family, yet his mind was a mess with worry, and he was having a hard time concentrating.

  Deep down, he felt as if this could be one of the last moments he would ever share with them.

  Make the best of it, then.

  He helped Phyl bait her hook with a shrimp and cast the line out into the water with the big fishing rod.

  “Keep letting out the line,” Les said. “We have to go pretty deep to catch a fish here, I think.”

  Phyl hung her tongue out the side of her mouth as she let the line out. Every few seconds, she looked for his approval.

  “Keep going, sweetheart,” Les said. He wanted her to do it on her own, but the Cazador rods were long for a child, and the reels tricky to operate.

  Once the baited hook was deep enough, he helped her fit the pole into a holder on the railing.

  “Now what?” she asked.

  “We wait.”

  They stared down at the clear water. Several boats cruised away from the capitol tower.

  Les glanced subtly at his wrist computer. He couldn’t stay much longer, and he really wanted to help her catch a fish before he h
ad to return to Discovery.

  And he still hadn’t told her he was going to Africa.

  For the next few minutes, he willed his brain and his heart to be in the moment and enjoy just being a father and husband. Fishing in the sunshine was something he had never in his wildest dreams imagined doing with his family.

  “Captain,” said a voice.

  Layla stepped out onto the balcony with Eevi, who wore her white officer’s uniform with a new lieutenant insignia pinned to the collar. Bags hung under her eyes, and Les realized she had worked through the night.

  “Hey!” Phyl said. “Look! We’re fishing!”

  “That looks fun,” Layla said.

  “Did you catch anything?” Eevi asked.

  “Not yet,” Phyl said. “But I’m going for a whale, so probably going to take some time.”

  “What’s going on?” Katherine asked. She had gotten to her feet and set her knitting down.

  “We need to speak to Captain Mitchells,” Layla said.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Eevi said.

  Les looked to his wife. She nodded and went over to the pole with Phyl while Les went to the other side of the balcony with the officers.

  “Sir, we’ve got Cricket’s data all downloaded,” Layla said. “We’re still going through it, but we’ve got quite a bit of intel already.”

  “And?” Les asked.

  “We have identified the outpost and their vessels, including two subs and Raven’s Claw.” Layla raised a brow. “Assuming it hasn’t left.”

  “What about the machines?”

  She shook her head. “None that we saw. Cricket didn’t detect any exhaust plumes, either.”

  “So either Horn is lying, or they’re hunkered down.”

  “Precisely.”

  Katherine and Phyl chuckled as Phyl pointed at something in the water.

  “Sir, there’s something else,” Eevi said.

  Les brought his attention back to his lieutenant.

  “Since the repairs are ahead of schedule, King Xavier has moved up the launch of Discovery. I just came from the airship, and the bridge is almost operational, thanks to Timothy.”

  “The airship and the warships are all slated to leave tonight,” Layla said.