Windsinger

by A. F. E. Smith

  Caraway accepted his coat and his daughter, then stood in silence as Ayla Changed. He thought he probably should be protesting more. She’d come all the way from Sol Kardis, destroyed an airship, fought by his side, and now she was proposing to carry them all to safety? Surely she didn’t have the energy for it. Yet there was no denying he longed for home – and since he had no transport to offer, Ayla’s solution was by far the best one.

  The last swirls of black smoke condensed into gold, and the alicorn gazed at him steadily. Even after six years at Ayla’s side, Caraway hadn’t lost his awe of her other form.

  ‘How should I –’

  In response, she dipped her knee. Put Wyrenne between my wings while you fetch Miles. I’ll keep her safe.

  He did so. The baby was so exhausted that she barely stirred when he placed her on the alicorn’s broad back; the great golden wings folded over and round, covering Wyrenne in a blanket of soft feathers.

  Caraway bound up Miles’s wounds as best he could, then hoisted the man over his shoulder. There was room to lie him across the alicorn’s neck, with head and arms hanging down one side and legs the other. Caraway vaulted into place behind him, then turned round to scoop up Wyrenne and settle her against him. Tentatively he reached out to grasp a handful of the alicorn’s flowing mane, but dropped it again when she snorted and tossed her head.

  ‘I’m sorry.’

  I won’t let you fall. Any of you.

  ‘I know.’

  And then they were in the air.

  She had never carried him this way before. She’d never offered, and he’d certainly never asked. A Changer creature wasn’t a common beast of burden. But after a while, with Wyrenne sleeping peacefully in his arms and the landscape unfolding below, he forgot to be awkward about it. He felt the cold wind in his face, listened to the silence of the air, and let himself enjoy the fact that this was as close as he’d ever get to knowing what it was like to have wings.

  He wasn’t sure exactly when they crossed the border. But the grassy meadows became orchards and fields, the red soil of Parovia became the more familiar dark earth of Mirrorvale, and shortly after that he spotted the approaching airships. Ayla snorted when he pointed them out, in a way that suggested she had noticed them long before he had, but she flew swift and straight to meet them. And then –

  Then, he wasn’t sure. By the time they climbed aboard an airship, he’d been smothered by a thick, heavy blanket of exhaustion. He was vaguely aware that Resca was there, tending to Miles. That one or two of the Helmsmen he’d sent to war were with him. But all that really mattered was that he had Ayla beside him, sitting with her head on his shoulder and Wyrenne on her lap. They drifted in and out of sleep, broken by the random snatches of conversation that were the result of two people drained beyond their natural capacity.

  ‘Half the Helm are dead,’ he said at one stage, and Ayla squeezed his hand.

  ‘I know. I’m sorry. I –’ Her breath hitched in a little sob. ‘I’m really sorry.’

  Then, later:

  ‘I met Ree and Penn on the way,’ Ayla said. ‘They were taking Marlon and Katya back to Darkhaven by airship.’

  Caraway nodded. ‘I knew they could do it.’

  And later still:

  ‘Do you think it must be war?’ he asked softly. ‘Mirrorvale and Parovia?’

  ‘Not if I can help it.’

  ‘They’ll be expecting a declaration. They’ve given us enough cause.’

  ‘Yes. But with Darkhaven so weakened …’

  ‘That’s why we have to appear strong.’

  ‘I know,’ Ayla said. ‘But I did destroy the Windsinger. And we have Sol Kardis on our side, now. Perhaps that will be enough.’

  After that they must have fallen asleep completely, because Caraway wasn’t aware of anything else until the airship landed outside the tower. Straight down onto the hillside outside Darkhaven. He made a vague note, somewhere at the back of his mind, that he’d have to do something about that. As the Parovians had proven, a skilled pilot could do it at night. What use the rings of Arkannen, if an airship could land directly in the seventh?

  Bryan awaited them, along with several Helmsmen. His relief and happiness went a long way towards showing – if Caraway had still possessed any doubts on the matter – that the weaponmaster was his friend, and not simply his old mentor. Yet when Miles was unloaded from the airship, Bryan’s face went completely blank.

  ‘Is he –?’

  ‘He’s alive,’ Caraway said. ‘Just.’

  Bryan nodded silently. But as Caraway turned away, the weaponmaster muttered, ‘Don’t let him die.’

  ‘I don’t think he will,’ Resca said, unaware of the deep emotional currents running around him. ‘His blood is far less swift to drain from his body than anyone else I’ve seen. I gather this remarkable collar has something to do with it.’

  His swift, keen glance left Caraway wondering whether the Kardise physician’s presence was going to cause more trouble than it was worth. Secrets were spilling out all over the place at the moment. But Miles needed medical attention, and he was really too tired to think much beyond that.

  As alchemist and physician retreated in the direction of the infirmary, he remembered the folded paper that Miles had been holding in the wreck of the Windsinger. He fished it out of his pocket.

  ‘Art!’ he said, turning back on his heel. He wasn’t sure this was the right time to mention the letter. He wasn’t sure he should mention it at all. But if he didn’t deliver it to its intended recipient now, he probably never would. ‘He was holding this. When I found him.’

  Bryan took it in silence. Then Ayla was there with Wyrenne in her arms, and the Helmsmen who had returned from the border were awaiting orders, and Caraway forgot all about Miles and his letter.

  As soon as they could manage it, he and Ayla went in search of their other two children. They found Ree and Penn standing guard in the nursery, one at each bedside, and sent them off to one of the empty bedrooms to get some rest. Then Caraway and Ayla carried all three of their slumbering children into their own big four-poster bed, and curled up around them. After a while, Ayla reached across the three small bodies for Caraway’s hand, and that was how they fell asleep.

  THIRTY-ONE

  Sorrow settled herself more comfortably against the banked-up pillows in Elisse’s double bed, and sighed in satisfaction. At times like this, when she was still recovering from a kiss with death, she could really appreciate the simple comforts of the Mallory family farm.

  ‘Behold Mirrorvale’s new hero,’ she drawled, and Elisse rolled her eyes.

  ‘So are ya finally going ta tell me what happened?’

  ‘I took a bullet for Ayla Nightshade.’

  Elisse looked at her with an expression that said Pull the other one, which altered slowly into You must be out of your mind. ‘Why?’

  ‘Because …’ Once again, Sorrow tried to pin down the reason for her unexpected slide into patriotism. Because she’s my overlord was the official reason, but official reasons seldom had much to do with the truth.

  ‘Because she’s family,’ she said finally.

  ‘I never knew ya had royal connections, Naeve.’

  Sorrow ignored the sarcasm. She was feeling unusually earnest, and she planned to make the most of it while she could. She’d probably never feel like having this conversation again in her life, but that was what nearly dying did to a person.

  ‘Family isn’t what makes us,’ she said. ‘It’s what we make for ourselves. Corus is my son – close as I’m ever going to get, anyway. And Ayla is his sister, by blood and by choice. If I’d let her die, I’d have let him down.’

  It wasn’t the whole of it, of course. Thinking about it rationally, there were a hundred reasons why she’d been right to act as she did – not least among them, the need to prevent a war and keep Mirrorvale under Changer protection. But when it came down to it, in the brevity of the moment between seeing someone under threat and r
esponding to it, there was only ever room for a single instinctive decision: do I value their life at least as much as my own? Reason came later.

  ‘Anyway,’ she said hastily. ‘I took a bullet for Ayla, and then while I was busy having it dug out of me, she signed a peace treaty with the Kardise and flew off to rescue her stolen children from Parovia. So really, I missed all the good bits. Instead, I got to lie around in a crappy infirmary tent and then get flown back to Mirrorvale by Ayla’s newest Helmsman.’

  The truth was, she’d liked Zander, as much as she ever liked anyone – ah, who are you kidding? some mocking part of her interrupted. You like all kinds of people these days. You’re almost making a habit of it.

  Anyway, she’d liked Zander, mainly because when she’d smirked at him and said, Oh, you’re Ree’s boy, he’d thought about it for a moment and then said, with a little smile, Yes, I suppose I am. After that she’d felt quite comfortable talking to him about weapons and more weapons and his strange, inexplicable happiness at being made a Helmsman. Bit of a waste, really. That one had a streak of mischief that could be put to good use.

  He’d also made her feel old. As far as she’d been able to estimate, from what he’d said, she was fourteen years older than he was. Fourteen years. Aside from certain obvious logistical difficulties, she could have been his mother.

  ‘You know what?’ she said glumly. ‘I’m about ready to retire. Give up the business and settle down in the country.’

  She meant it. She thought she meant it. And she thought Elisse would be pleased. But the other woman only grinned and shook her head.

  ‘Sod that, Naeve. Soon as Corus is old enough ta be left with his gran for a week or two, I’ll be coming with ya.’

  ‘You what?’

  ‘Give it another year, and I reckon we’ll be there. He’ll be nearly eight by then. They’re sending that tutor from the city, so I won’ need ta teach him any more …’ Elisse’s fingers moved to brush Sorrow’s. ‘I wan’ ta be your partner, Naeve, if you’ll let me.’

  Sorrow gazed at her hand. Then, after a while, she lifted her head to gaze at Elisse’s face.

  ‘You want to be my partner,’ she said flatly.

  ‘Yeah.’ A hint of uncertainty crept into Elisse’s eyes. ‘Is that all right?’

  ‘I’m quite respectable these days, you know,’ Sorrow said. ‘It won’t be as much fun as it used to be.’

  ‘I dunno. Working for Darkhaven didn’ stop ya nearly getting killed.’

  Sorrow snorted. ‘You think nearly getting killed is fun?’

  ‘Don’t bullshit me, Naeve Sorrow. The danger of it is the whole point. Being shot is no fun, I’ll give ya that. But nearly being shot …’

  Sorrow considered that a moment. Then, slowly, her fingers curled around Elisse’s. A partner. Someone who’d be there alongside her when she got herself into another situation she couldn’t quite handle. The more she thought about it, the less her wounds seemed to throb. So she raised her eyebrows at Elisse.

  ‘Want to come and nearly get shot with me?’

  Elisse smiled. ‘I thought you’d never ask.’

  Before Ree and Penn left Darkhaven, the morning after they returned from the Windsinger, Caraway summoned them to the small receiving room where he’d once given them secret instructions about the murder investigation. As before, Ayla was there with him; she greeted them warmly and asked them to sit down.

  ‘I wanted to thank you both,’ she said. ‘For the part you played in rescuing my children, and before that as well. Tomas tells me that without you, we wouldn’t have known where they were being held.’

  ‘Are they all right?’ Ree asked.

  ‘Yes. Thank you. All three of them are fine.’

  ‘And you?’ Ree wasn’t even sure if she should venture that question, but a shadow lingered in Ayla’s eyes, and she couldn’t help but ask … yet Ayla only nodded gravely.

  ‘Well enough. Thank you.’

  She wasn’t really, Ree thought. She’d aged since she went to war – not outwardly, so much, but it bled through from somewhere inside her. Still, it was clear she didn’t want to talk about it, and so Ree asked her other burning question.

  ‘Please … what happened to Zander? Did his father make him stay in Sol Kardis?’

  Ayla and Caraway exchanged a smile.

  ‘He tried,’ Ayla said. ‘But in the end he saw reason.’

  ‘Then Zander came back with you?’

  Ayla shook her head. ‘As the newest member of my personal guard, I sent him on an errand. He should be back in the city by now, though.’

  It took a moment for Ree to understand what she meant. ‘You made Zander a Helmsman?’

  ‘He’s good enough,’ Caraway said. ‘He’s certainly proven his loyalty. If it hadn’t been for the Kardise situation, he’d have been in already. So now that we have peace …’

  ‘They didn’t try to make him a condition of the treaty, then?’ Penn asked. That was what both of them had believed Zander was flying back to.

  ‘Actually, they did,’ Ayla said. ‘But I argued them down.’

  Ree didn’t know what to say. That argument must have taken place when Ayla already knew her children had been taken. When she had every reason to agree to Kardise demands for the sake of reaching her loved ones sooner. And yet she had fought for Zander, who wasn’t even part of Darkhaven …

  ‘Ree?’ Caraway cut in while she was still trying to formulate a response. ‘Can we speak to you alone for a moment?’

  ‘Yes, sir …’ That was odd. She shot a sideways glance at Penn, but he only gave her an ambiguous little smile before leaving the room. Frowning, Ree turned back to her captain.

  ‘I found this,’ Caraway said. ‘You handed it to me with the plans of the Windsinger, though I didn’t notice at the time.’

  He was holding her marriage contract. Ree found herself suddenly hot all over, as though she’d been dipped in boiling water.

  ‘Is there something you want to tell us?’ Ayla added gently.

  Ree opened her mouth. She hadn’t planned to tell her captain about this, let alone Ayla. It had been an awkward, embarrassing problem she’d been determined to deal with alone. Yet now, unexpectedly, the entire story tumbled out of her. The bargain her father had made with Derrick Tarran. Her own encounter with the man. Penn’s discovery of the contract in Tarran’s office.

  ‘But I don’t want to leave the Helm,’ she finished. ‘I don’t want to be married. And nor does Lewis! But my father can’t afford to pull out of the contract and get blacklisted for six months, even if he wanted to, and Lewis can’t do it because he’s one of the subjects of the contract. And I don’t –’

  Ayla held up a hand. ‘Ree. I’ve already terminated the contract. And,’ she added reflectively, ‘I really need to see about making this kind of thing illegal. No-one should be signing unbreakable marriage contracts on their children’s behalf, however traditional the practice may be.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘I spoke to Lewis earlier this morning,’ Caraway said. ‘I would have spoken to you, too, only I didn’t want to wake you.’ His smile was warm. ‘And Lewis was adamant enough for both of you that the marriage wasn’t your choice.’

  Ree opened her mouth. Closed it. Opened it again to say faintly, ‘What about my father’s debt?’

  ‘I paid it off,’ Ayla said.

  ‘But – but –’ Ree couldn’t find the words. She was close to tears. Finally she managed, ‘I would never have asked you to do that, Lady Ayla.’

  ‘I know you wouldn’t. But Lewis Tarran is about to lose a great deal of his father’s wealth, and I can’t have the taransey business failing now; it would be bad for the city. Besides …’ For the first time Ree could remember, Ayla looked unsure of herself. ‘I didn’t want to lose you. Is that all right?’

  ‘We wouldn’t have done it if we hadn’t been certain the marriage was against your wishes,’ Caraway added. ‘I asked Penn about it, too, and he said the same.
’

  So that explained the little smile Penn had given her as he left. Ree shook her head, feeling stupid with confusion. She thought maybe she ought to be angry. Caraway and Ayla might be her employers, but they had no more right to interfere in her life than her parents did. Yet she couldn’t deny that they’d done it for the very best of reasons.

  ‘Is that all right?’ Ayla asked again. Impulsively, Ree stepped forward and hugged her. It was probably inappropriate, but she didn’t care. And Ayla hugged her back, so it wasn’t as if she could have minded all that much. Ree hoped not, anyway.

  ‘Thank you,’ she mumbled. Backing away again, she looked down at her feet, suddenly aware of her hot cheeks. ‘Both of you.’

  Caraway touched her arm. ‘Ree.’

  She raised her head.

  ‘Next time you have a problem like this, please tell me about it before you get to the point of being forced into marriage.’

  ‘It didn’t seem that important,’ she said. ‘Not with war coming.’

  ‘That’s exactly why it was important. Anything that could distract you from doing your job, I need to know about. A distracted Helmsman is a defeated one. You know that.’

  Ree nodded. ‘I’m sorry, sir. I just … I was ashamed.’

  ‘Of what?’

  Good question. She struggled to articulate it. ‘Not being able to handle it myself. Having some stupid problem that none of the others would ever have. I know you want to keep me safe, Captain, but –’

  She stopped, because he was shaking his head.

  ‘Of course I want to keep you safe,’ he said. ‘But it’s not because you’re a girl, if that’s what you’re implying. It’s because you’re one of my men. I want to know if someone’s trying to force you into marriage in the exact same way I want to know if Lonnie’s brother has died of fever or Riba’s baby was born two months early or Soren has lost his home after a dispute with his landlord. I care about your lives, Ree. All of you. We’re a family.’ He hesitated, then added sadly, ‘We were a family.’

  Ayla rested her cheek against his shoulder, briefly, in recognition of the amendment. Ree nodded. She managed a salute, before turning and leaving the room.