by SM Blooding
I had to stop there as a chill cascaded down my spine. So this was what she’d wanted all along. She knew I’d refuse. She wanted me to remain leader of my tribe. She’d orchestrated this entire thing. I’d been nothing more than a puppet. Now she wanted me and the second most powerful of the Seven Great Families under her control?
Carilyn scratched her cheek. “What did you do in there?”
I couldn’t stop staring at the paper in my hands. “I didn’t negotiate a treaty and I did not become her knight.”
Queen Dyna sighed. “Then, I’m afraid she’s at her games again.”
And Dyna wasn’t?
“No,” Nix said from behind me.
I turned on her. “How did this get here so soon?”
“You walk slowly.” Nix stopped in front of me and took the parchment. “I sent out a broadcast along all our normal frequencies. My dear sister simply had her communications officer write it down.” She glanced up at Dyna. “You should really have a word with her. Her penmanship is getting sloppy.”
I stared between the two of them. A heavy rock sat in my chest. My head buzzed at the full impact of the trap’s punch. If she’d sent this out on all their normal frequencies, the Families had intercepted the message. They would all think I’d become the enemy.
Nix’s lips twisted in a smile. “Exactly, my dear, Primus.”
I swallowed the bile rising in my throat. “What about this treaty? You and I didn’t even discuss that.”
“I am allowing you . . . ” The tip of her diamond claw penetrated my button-up shirt. “ . . . to negotiate it yourself. You now have the power and backing of my House.” She handed me a rolled up parchment. “And you have my signature and seal.”
Queen Dyna’s blue eyes lit on the parchment Nix had given me. Her hands twitched.
The parchment in my hands felt like a death warrant. I’d just lost everything. The Families and tribes had the knowledge that I’d just turned traitor. Yes. That had been the whole point of staying behind in Sky City . . . but that moment was now. I wasn’t a knight and I was a member of the Great Families. I was suddenly nothing and no one. “Will it be honored by the other queens?”
Nix’s expression softened as she took a step toward me. She cupped my chin. Her dark eyes filled with what I would have called honesty on another person. “We will have to run it by the council of the queens. All I ask is that you are fair to all sides. That is the only way you will achieve the other three signatures.”
Dyna narrowed cool eyes at her sister, but said nothing.
Nix gestured behind her and Varik stepped forward, something black in his arms.
I shook my head. I knew what that was and I didn’t want it. “I am El’Asim.”
“In order to negotiate this treaty, you will have to be both,” Nix said. “You will have to prove to your Families that you can be trusted, and you will have to make us believe that you are only looking out for our best interest.”
“You destroyed people’s lives, Nix,” I growled in disbelief. “How am I supposed to negotiate with them on your behalf? How am I supposed to ‘keep the interests of the Hands’ uppermost when the only thing I really want is your head on a stick?”
Her dark eyes focused on my chest. “Do you think that would solve anything?”
Yes. “No.”
“Then don’t allow that to go in the treaty.”
I sucked in my cheeks and glared around the room.
Varik handed me the leather long coat and the top hat of the knighthood.
My arms remained at my sides.
Carilyn took it for me.
Nix nodded and left, taking her broken pet with her.
Dyna’s eyebrows lodged in her hairline. “That was Nix? Does she have a twin that we weren’t aware of?”
The expression on Carilyn’s face was much the same.
I was completely fed up with these women. I needed to get out of there, wanted to go home. “Passage out of here. What did you have in mind?”
Dyna sighed and gave me a frank look. Then she turned around and headed deeper in the House of Swords. “I sent a transmission to Yvette, thinking that would get you a ride home.”
Probably not. Now that Yvette, Dyna’s trusted spy, had found her mother, the two had been inseparable. I honestly had no idea when or if Yvette was going to keep up the charade of being Dyna’s spy.
“However, I haven’t heard from her.”
I really didn’t need anyone to answer anyway. “I’ll need a dragonfly.”
“Just give me the radio frequency of—”
“No.”
Queen Dyna stopped and turned around. “It’s safe. The Families are safe. There’s no need for fear.”
“Why? Because of that message? Dyna.” I forced my fists to relax. “Those are words. No one is going to believe them until you prove it.”
“I can’t do that unless we can find them, show them we are capable of being trusted.”
I was a moron.
She looked over my shoulder. “High Priestess Aiyanna,” the queen called. “I’m quite sure you were able to retrieve the frequencies.”
I turned around. I hadn’t heard her approach, but the slight woman stood beside me, her hands folded under her scarves.
Dyna smiled at Aiyanna. “I know I didn’t request the information previously, but surely you understand what Synn does not. In order to make this peace a reality, we will need those frequencies.”
“I’m afraid,” the priestess said, her voice soft, “that I was unable to discover that information. I wasn’t looking for it, and it never came up in our work.”
Relief permeated my entire being as I watched her with curious wariness.
Dyna let out a frustrated sigh. “Synn, this is ridiculous. You have—”
I let out a derisive breath and shook my head. “You know what? I’ll find my own way off this rock.”
“Synn, wait.” Dyna commanded.
I really didn’t need anything from here. What I needed was a change of clothes, but I knew I wasn’t going to find anything there. Dear Sky, I had to be one of the dumbest people on this planet. How many times was I going to fall for their tricks?
I made it out the door walking so fast I was practically running when Carilyn caught up to me. She didn’t say a word, she just kept stride beside me, the long coat slung over her shoulder, the top hat in hand.
She wasn’t coming with me, but I’d let her figure that out on her own.
I made it to the row of hangers. Walking between two of them, I found the massive air field. There weren’t a lot of planes. I saw the dragonfly I’d destroyed in my attempt to keep Keeley safe, but there weren’t any other planes I knew how to fly on the entire field. I’d have to figure out a way to get the dragonfly to start. Somehow.
Carilyn kept up with me. “What are you doing?”
I thought that was pretty obvious, so I didn’t answer.
“It won’t start, Synn.”
It had to.
She sighed and tugged on my arm. “When you’re ready to start thinking, come find me. I’ll be in that plane—” She pointed her thumb over her shoulder. “—preparing for take-off.”
I shook her off and glared. The only thing she knew was life with the Hands. She wasn’t seriously thinking of leaving.
That only left one other option. She was coming along to spy on me and report back to Dyna. I was going to have enough problems without her tagging along.
The dragonfly was a mess. I couldn’t even sit in the cockpit. The dash was mangled and fried. There was no way this bird was flying.
I stood on its black metal wings and peered over the field. There were five other planes on the huge airfield. They were all too large to land where I needed to go.
The winds picked up with the incoming storm. The ocean was surging, the waves growing in height and intensity. If I was going to make it out of here, I couldn’t leave by sailing or swimming. Dear Sky, how I wished Yvette were there. I cou
ld just jump in—so, it would be painful—and she could swim me out of there, into safety.
Engines roared to life.
I turned. The wind whipped my hair in my face. The temperature dropped as the wind picked up. A broken flap on the dragonfly whacked against the deck. If we didn’t hurry, we’d miss our opportunity for take-off.
We.
Dirt-thumping sand worm.
I followed the sound of the motors to a bird with four propellers on each massive, metal wing. The man-door was open. A metal and rope ladder dangled down the side of the plane. I climbed up, fighting the wind, and stared into the small cockpit. “There won’t be a landing strip where we’re going,” I shouted.
Carilyn didn’t even look up as she flipped dials and switches. “Won’t need one. I could use your help. Bring up the ladder and close the door, would you?”
It wasn’t like this was the only idea. I could try and find another plane, hope that I could figure out how to take off, hope even more that I could land it without dying, and then somehow find a way back to the Families. There were too many hopes there.
Or I could go back to Dyna, tell her how to communicate with the Families, draw them out and, destroy them or hold them hostage.
No. This was probably the better of the solutions.
With the door closed, I headed to the cockpit, stepping over the rounded, metal doorway. “What do you need—” I stopped and stared at Aiyanna.
The little priestess didn’t even look up. “Control Dome Four,” she said into a stick attached to her huge headphones, “this is Wanderer requesting take-off instructions.”
I ground my teeth. Great. How many plans of theirs was I going to step right into?
“Take a seat, Synn,” Carilyn commanded, handing me a set of headphones, her other hand in constant motion as she flipped switches. “I can take her up on my own. Do all the time. But what with this choppy wind, I could really use the help.”
I sat in the co-pilot’s seat. Some of the gauges looked familiar, but I’d only taken a crash course in flying the dragonfly. This one was about three times its size and had many, many more gauges, switches, and levers.
I followed Carilyn’s direction as best I could. She snapped at me more than once. Aiyanna kept her cool in the back. The control dome gave us clearance and we were off.
The winds slammed into us as soon as we were no longer touching the field. There was a reason these planes didn’t travel in storms. They weren’t designed to take the damage.
But I knew how to maneuver in storms. I’d been born to fly in them. Granted, we’d been in an airship, which was designed for riding these kinds of winds, but I knew what I was doing.
We had to get away from the lightning. Being enclosed in a flying metal container in the middle of a lightning storm wasn’t a good idea.
I took the stick and got a feel for how the bird moved. It was attached to the stick Carilyn had, so I wasn’t controlling anything.
Carilyn misjudged an air pocket and sent us hurtling back toward the airfield.
I wasn’t dying that night. “Let me!”
She let go, her fingers flaring before grabbing onto the stick again, this time lightly, following me as I’d followed her.
Closing my eyes, I could feel the wind, how it rolled over and around the Wanderer, pushing her and tugging her at the same time. We needed to go up.
Our world rocked. The raging wind roared around us.
I pushed the bird higher into the storm.
The winds fought me like we were a rag doll.
The world outside the window darkened. No lights from the flight deck lit our way. All was dark except for the occasional flash of lightning.
We had to hurry. I knew what hid inside these storms. If the Wanderer couldn’t handle a little wind, I doubted it would survive long if attacked by a sky cat.
With an almost visible pop, we were above the clouds, the brilliant night sky high overhead. I stared through the glass dome of the ceiling and breathed in a sigh.
“Give me a heading and I’ll punch it in,” Carilyn said, reaching for a round dial.
Stars stabbed through the night sky. I didn’t need headings. I took the control stick and pointed the Wanderer in the direction we needed to go. I knew how to get us to our destination.
I just didn’t know how to ditch my spy and head whisperer so I could get there.
CHAPTER 7
FLASHING RAIN
The storm cleared a kilometre north of Sky City, and I was able to drop in altitude, which was good. The stars might tell me which way to go, but I was trying to find an island. Even the best stargazer couldn’t tell a pilot how to find an island in the middle of the ocean via the stars.
Enough light emanated from Kel’Mar to illuminate the choppy waters. The storm was following us, and as such, the wind terminals were strong.
When Egolda City had been destroyed months ago, I’d taken on as many survivors as I could, even though there was a target on my back. Tensions had been high, but we’d still managed to find the survivors safe harbor on an isolated, uninhabited island.
I just hoped things were good and that they’d been able to settle like they’d intended. Otherwise, this could be futile.
Carilyn watched me as we flew in silence.
I decided to ignore her. I couldn’t trust her. Yes, she seemed likable enough, but most people were. It wasn’t until they followed through with their intentions, that things swung out of control. I had no doubt that Carilyn thought her intentions were good, that her queen was only trying to help, but those manipulative little dirt-humpers had played me for the last time.
I hoped.
“You’re planning on ditching us somewhere, aren’t you?”
I nodded. “We’ll land somewhere so I can catch a ride elsewhere, and then you can leave.”
“We’re going with you.”
A needle on one of the gauges dipped. A motor on the right wing changed in pitch. The control stick dipped, then righted itself as the motor regained its normal operating roar. “So you can spy on me?”
“Partially.”
I tipped my head. “Don’t tell me that you want out of the Hands, that you want to save the world, and that you think I’m the best bet because I won’t believe it.”
“Why not?”
“You were born to the Hands, Carilyn. You said so yourself. You don’t know anything else.”
“I want peace.”
“And what would that peace look like?” The ocean rolled underneath. Dark shadows appeared on the waters just barely within sight. “How does the world look under the rule of the Hands?”
“Safe.”
“For who? You?” So many conversations flooded through my head, so many emotions, so many visions of memories. What would the rule of one person look like to the world? Sane? Quiet? No. It would mean that other peoples would have to be defeated first, all of them, and there were just too many of us—too many tribes, too many Families.
She didn’t say anything else.
“Why are you here, Aiyanna?”
The priestess didn’t say anything for the longest time. Then her soft voice came over the headphones, barely heard over the rattle of the engines. “The High Priestess ordered it.”
“I thought you were a high priestess.”
“I am.”
“Hehewuti is the Grand High Priestess,” Carilyn said with a great deal of respect. “If she asked her to join us then . . . ” She leaned forward and looked up.
Neither of their reasons made me trust them. My plan hadn’t changed.
“What was the message from Hehewuti?” Carilyn asked.
“Beware, the Tower comes,” the priestess said.
My face contorted. That made no sense to me.
“The Tower?” In the red light of Kel’mar above and the orange lights from the dashboard, Carilyn’s face paled. “Why?”
Aiyanna was silent for a long moment. “You know why, Officer Domitius.”
I didn’t care either way. I was through with the Hands, and wanted nothing more to do with their queens. I was tired of being their pawn simply because of my Mark.
The islands came into sight. I wasn’t going to land on the island with the crescent-shaped bay. The white sands reflected Kel’mar’s light, making it almost appear to be pink. That was where I needed to go, but I wasn’t leading Carilyn there.
Light flashed behind on our starboard side, and the winds grew even more choppy. The storm was enclosing us. I needed to hurry if I was going to land this thing without crashing.
Unfortunately, the smaller islands were mostly mountains with no flat places at all. There was no way to safely land. The only place was just off the crescent bay.
I was torn. Carilyn wasn’t going to be able to take off in this. Rain was hitting us harder than the wind. This storm promised to be a lot worse.
I was tempted to rise back out of the clouds and keep flying to Kiwidinok, the wild lands. We could find shelter there, and be able to land far enough inland to be protected from the storm.
I checked the fuel gauge. It was nearly empty. Of course. Why anyone would build a vessel that couldn’t replenish its own fuel was beyond me. It was ludicrous.
I circled the islands one more time.
We were out of luck.
I pointed out the glass dome to the spot just behind the beach that had been pink just moments before. It barely gleamed as a lighter shadow among all the others. “We’re taking her down there, unless you have spare fuel cells somewhere.”
“We do,” she shouted, “but we can’t refuel in midair.”
I shook my head and took the control stick in two hands. The wind pushed us further away from the island than I wanted. I altered coarse, finding a path that would allow the forceful winds to assist me in getting us to our landing spot.
“I can’t see anything,” Carilyn shouted.
Of course not. “Just help me keep her steady as we descend.”
She nodded, her full attention apparently focused on the panes of glass.
The landscape lit up in flashes of brilliant blue light. Rain fell in sheets onto the rolling ocean.
“You’re taking us there?” Carilyn shouted.
