by Mur Lafferty
“She’s almost ready to go, my Lady,” Alicia said, getting to her feet.
“Great,” Kate said. “Can you introduce me to your crew?”
“This is my oldest, Sarah,” Kate said. “She was keeping the young ones safe when we left the city. She’s the only one qualified to be my crew. Sarah, go get your brothers and sisters.” The girl, whose long hair was braided in cornrows, bobbed her head and ran to the door that led to the bunks.
“We’ve got the twins Ursula and Sam, they’re eight. James is ten, and the baby, Kelly, is three,” Alicia said as the children filed out of the bunks. James was sullen and pudgy, built like his mother. The fraternal twins Ursula and Sam were rail thin, and looked down at the deck shyly. The girl Kelly held her big sister’s hand and stared unabashedly at the gods. Daniel grinned at her.
“Are you guys ready to be our crew?” Daniel asked.
“Yes, Lord,” the kids mumbled.
Daniel sighed. “This is going to be tougher than I thought, isn’t it?” he asked Kate. She smiled ruefully.
Kelly squirmed out of her sister’s grasp and ran on her stumpy legs toward Daniel. She wrapped her arms around his leg and giggled. “Danny!”
Kate snorted. “Well, you’ve won one of them over.”
Daniel bent down and picked up the girl, who chortled as he settled her on his hip. “Yes,” came her mother’s dry voice from behind him. “She’s the shy one. We’re worried about her.”
Daniel laughed. “I can see why. Is she afraid of heights?”
Alicia looked affronted. “Of course not. They all grew up on airships.”
Daniel walked to the railing and showed Kelly the henhouse with the pterodactyls sunning themselves. “Birdy!” she shouted.
“I guess so,” he agreed.
Kate was speaking with Alicia about their next stop, but Daniel was just happy to look at the view and think - hope - that they had made an impact on the people.
The people who had survived, anyway.
Alicia headed to the helm and the propeller increased speed. The kids headed back to their bunks, shepherded by their sister, and Kate joined Daniel at the railing.
“So we have the oldest and the youngest on our sides,” Kate said, watching the girl clutch at Daniel’s bandage. “The middle ones, well…”
“Kate, we destroyed their home, their city, their business. Can you blame them?”
“No. We didn’t. I did.” Kate looked down at the farm and waved to Daniel, Lania, and Norbert who had come out to wave good-bye at them as Sarah rappelled down to release the airship from her anchors. She rose with the ship, clinging to the ladder, and was soon back on the deck with them.
“You saved a boy. I tore down the city,” she said, biting her lip.
“You had to, Kate. If you hadn’t, they would have kept doing it. Or misinterpreted. We have a job to do here. And we need to do it right. We weren’t. We can now.”
Tears brimmed in her eyes. Oh shit, she’s gonna make another world or burn something else down, Daniel thought, but they were just regular tears she wiped away hastily.
“Here,” Daniel said, and passed her the grinning toddler. “We’re going to try again. I think they get us now. We’ve got Daniel and Lania and Norbert. They said they would rebuild the city. We’ve got the people you saved in the city. We’ve got Alicia. And soon we’ll have her kids.”
Kate took the girl and held her close, and the girl pulled at Kate’s hair and laughed again. Daniel, his arms now free, spread them out to encompass the ship. “And we’ve got this awesome zeppelin!”
Kate smiled through her tears at him, and he put his arm around her. “And you’ve got me. We’ll be okay. I promise.”
She nodded, her tears falling on the baby’s forehead as the zeppelin rose above the woods. Alicia called from the helm, “Next stop, the northern city of Meridian. We should be there in about nine hours. First thing in the morning if we fly through the night.”
The airship turned and Kate and Daniel watched the ruins of the city burn behind them as they headed into the night.
CHAPTER SIX
Kate peered at Daniel though the holes in her hammock. After the events of the day, she really wanted to curl up beside him, but clearly the thin hammocks offered nothing but uncomfortable mushing of bodies if more than one person was involved.
Besides, Kelly was sacked out on Daniel’s chest. When her sister had tried to take her out of his arms, she screeched and refused, and Daniel said she could sleep with him if she wanted. Alicia had no objection, so the girl was now drooling on Daniel’s shirt and dreaming, no doubt, of the fantastic life she was destined to have considering she now slept on a god.
Or maybe she just dreamed of a new doll. Kate had no idea. Daniel snored quietly and shifted in his hammock. Alicia had given them the captain’s quarters, as she had to fly the airship, and the children were bunked in the adjacent room. Across the room was Alicia's large captain’s desk, with rolls of maps neatly stacked on a shelf behind. Behind that was the wide stern window, showing nothing but black.
Kate sighed, not tired in the least, and struggled out of her hammock. She climbed the narrow staircase and exited onto the quarterdeck. Lanterns hung from the cables and cast an eerie light on the brass pipes moving from the engine under the deck to the gauges near the helm. The fat bag of the blimp bulged above her and felt much closer than it had during the day.
She walked with a purposeful step, hoping not to scare Alicia, but the woman didn’t look around as she stared ahead into the darkness. “Good evening, my Lady,” she said, as Kate came up behind her.
“How is it going?”
“Honestly, I am a little nervous. I mean, me and mine will take you to hell itself if that is what you want, but Meridian is something else.”
Kate had felt a particular feeling against the North since she had come back to life. It was as if she and North were repelling magnets. . It was stronger on the ground, though; from the air, it was easier to resist. Still, she had no idea why she felt this way. “What’s north besides Meridian?”
“All sorts of nasties. Sky pirate attacks increase the further north you get. Some people on foot have gone mad by going too far north. The priestesses tell us that is where the gods are born, and it’s not meant for mortals.”
“The Wasteland,” Kate murmured.
“What is the wasteland?”
“It’s the places between the afterlives. Sort of unclaimed god country. Gods fight to the death out there. You can get lost. And, apparently, you can create whole worlds from there. But it sounds as if it has even more qualities. I’m not sure if mortals can survive there. Tell me about the sky pirates.”
“What do you want to know?” Alicia's voice was flat. “They have fast, nimble ships, they disable, board, execute the crew, and take whatever cargo you have. If you have no useful cargo, they take hostages. If there are no useful hostages, well, at least they have a new ship now.”
Kate had the feeling she was treading on very tenuous ground here, and backed away slowly. “Well, I’m pretty sure Daniel and I can defend the ship if it comes down to that.”
Alicia continued to stare straight ahead into the night, her jaw clenching.
"Alicia,” Kate said, putting her hand on her arm. The woman finally looked at her, rage and terror in her wide eyes. “We will protect your family.”
The woman must have finally remembered who she was talking to, because she relaxed instantly. She frowned and looked at the floor. “My husband was carrying some cargo to Meridian when they attacked. They took the ship and executed the crew.” She wiped her eyes. “Or at least, that’s what the remaining witness tells me. They usually leave one alive. They like to sow the fear, you see. I just wish I had his body to give it proper rites.”
Kate embraced the woman, calming her sobs. When she had finally relaxed and gone back to the helm, she sighed and said, “It's good we're headed for Meridian, though. It's the closest port and the ship is
n’t equipped for a long travel. My kids barely made it out with a change of clothes. We’re left with what you see, after the fall of Dauphine.”
“I’m sorry for that,” Kate said. “It had to be done, but I am sorry for your loss.”
Alicia nodded once. “I don’t pretend to understand or judge, my Lady. Only serve.”
“I’ll do what I can to help stock the ship,” Kate said. “I think I can manage that.” She winked at Alicia, whose eyes widened in surprise, then the woman laughed.
Kate found it an odd sensation to speak and laugh with another woman, and kept her company as they sailed through the night, the steam-powered propeller whirring behind them. When the sun rose, it nearly blinded Kate with the glare off the towers straight ahead of them.
“Meridian,” Alicia said.
Kate squinted and gasped. “Uh, Alicia, is it my imagination or are the buildings not touching the ground there?”
Alicia grimaced. “It’s Meridian’s proximity to the north. Things aren’t always… right… here. Things are calmer toward the ocean," she gestured east where Kate could see the glint of water on the horizon. "But settling there proved to be dangerous with local animals."
A door opened behind them, and Sarah’s frightened voice cut through the hazy dawn. “Mama, what are you doing? It’s feeding time!”
Alicia swore - interestingly enough, an oath that involved Kate’s erect nipples, but she didn’t have time react to it - grabbed the controls and dipped the zeppelin sharply down toward the ground. At that point, from the clouds above them, a great moaning sound reverberated through the sky and a huge translucent shape dove down and gracefully soared through the air in front of them. It was five times as large as a house. Much larger than the airship. Kate grasped the railing and stared.
“Sarah, get the gun!” cried Alicia as she continued to direct the air ship in a sharp dive. Sarah ran back down the stairs below deck.
“What the fuck is that?” screamed Kate.
“It’s an air whale,” said Alicia, monitoring the gauges and flipping some switches. “They don’t eat humans, but a collision with them will knock you out of the sky. And when they’re feeding, they’re not paying attention.”
Kate stared at the diaphanous form moving lazily in the clouds, and couldn’t imagine it hurting anything. Then it zeroed in on a V of flying birds and devoured a good seventy-five percent of them. Now that she was aware of them, she could see them all awakening, moving in and out of the clouds, devouring birds when they could.
“They’re not dangerous when translucent, but-" Alicia said, and at that point one of the whales dove straight down and hit a lake below with a massive splash. Alicia continued. “Right after they’ve surfaced they’re slower, but much more solid. And much more dangerous.”
The whale came back up from the lake, a deep blue color, and Alicia pulled the controls to the right—hard—and narrowly dodged the whale as it soared past them and higher up into the clouds.
“What the hell is going on?” came a voice from behind them. Daniel stormed onto the deck, his hair a haphazard mess and clutching a chortling Kelly to his chest. He had a wet spot on his shirt where she had drooled all night, and if Kate hadn’t been holding desperately to the railing, she would have laughed.
“Air whales,” she called. "Swim in air. Breathe water. Dangerous."
“Air whales. Right. Makes perfect sense.”
“Mama, go inland!” called Sarah, hefting what looked like a rocket launcher on her shoulder. She tethered herself to a railing and used both hands to steady her gun. She aimed and fired, and with a FOOM the gun went off and she winced as she controlled the kickback.
“What is that?” Kate called as Alicia turned the zeppelin away from bodies of water.
“Chicken carcasses,” Alicia said grimly, still struggling with the controls. “They’ll converge on that area instead of here. My Lord, I trust you have Kelly? And my kids are safe in the bunk?”
“Yeah, as safe as they can be with this crazy navigation!” Daniel said. Kelly waved her hands around, gleeful in the chaos as Daniel held her tightly. “Kate, what the hell is wrong with you?” Daniel threw up his hand and the air around the zeppelin shimmered.
Kate shook her head, astonished at her own stupidity. "Alicia, steady the ship. We’ll be fine.”
“We will?”
“Daniel’s thrown a force field around the ship,” she said.
“Nope,” Daniel said, approaching them. “I just made the ship look like another whale. I assume they don’t collide in midair?”
Alicia shook her head mutely, and the ship leveled.
Daniel came up beside her. “What happened to you?”
“I—forgot, I guess.” Kate’s face was hot with her blush. She wouldn’t meet Daniel’s eye.
“Dude. You’re a god. You have created two worlds. You could have turned the whales to pigeons.”
“Come on, Daniel, it was AIR WHALES. How do you think on your feet when you’re in the air, surrounded by animals that should weigh thirty tons and be in the sea? Cut me some slack, I can’t think powerful goddess all the time.”
“Well you’re gonna have to,” he said. “Cause it’s just going to get dicier from here on out.”
“You’re right,” she said. “I don’t know what came over me.”
He lost his obvious irritation and put his arm around her, grinning. “Well, when you forgot what power you had, you just got us a little in danger with the freaky air mammals. When I forgot, I brought down heaven and hell.”
Kate looked at him and saw the amusement in his face. “Yeah. We’ve got some weird shit ahead.”
He handed Kelly to her sister, who had untethered herself from the railing and had put down the huge chicken gun. He put his hand on Kate’s shoulder and said, “Tell me.”
They left Alicia and Sarah to finish the trek into the strange floating city and went below deck to talk.
CHAPTER SEVEN
According to Alicia, Meridian was a city that floated due to its proximity to the Wasteland, what she called the Dark. It consisted solely of several tall buildings with no solid roads linking them. The city officials had decided it was safer to tether the city to a rocky plain at the foot of a cliff instead of risk it wafting into the Wasteland, especially with the improbability storms that raged through in the wintertime. Hundreds of cables stretched from anchors in the city to the rocks below to keep the buildings stationary, but it still tossed about in storms.
It was a port of call for all sorts, everyone from adventurers to merchant ships. Although travel further north to the Wasteland was incredibly dangerous for mortals, it was a lucrative trip to make. Scientists had discovered that they could transmute sand from the Wasteland into a bizarre kind of chaos energy that was vital in propelling some airships and also fueled some of the more eccentric weaponry, and the suppliers in Meridian did a roaring trade in the bottled energy. Extremely dangerous to collect, and even more dangerous to transmute, the stuff was mind bogglingly expensive and no price was too high for eager air ship pilots or wealthy tinkers. Some desperate inventors would sell everything they owned except their tools in order to get enough money to buy chaos energy because they knew that the things they could build that used the energy would very likely make them wealthy in a matter of weeks.
Not all inventors made it big, though, and those who failed were abandoned in Meridian with no money to make it out of the city. Kate and Daniel hadn’t seen the terrain because they had traveled at night, but Meridian was surrounded on three sides by steep mountains and cliffs; nearly impossible to reach by foot. And with air ships, no one bothered to try. Stuck with no money, the inventors would rappel down the cables to the ground below and live there, where the maddening energy was much stronger. Some would steal away into the Wasteland to farm what raw stuff they could, and then, if they survived, would build and sell their wares topside on the black market. Everyone knew that the items sold on the black market came from
the mad inventors below the city and were as likely to blow up as they were to work. However, if the items did work, it was more likely that they would be more powerful than anything purchased in legit markets. Black market movement on weapons and airship fuel was a lucrative trade.
Several of the underside inventors did make it rich eventually, but some were too mad to leave, or too comfortable in their little kingdoms.
And, Alicia added, almost as an aside, the city was a port for most of the sky pirates in the area, too.
******
Kate bent over and peered at the gauges. “So, does this ship run on the chaos energy stuff?”
“No, Lady. We had some ships in our fleet that did. The faster ones and the warship did. This one is our family’s personal airship, and the closest one we could escape to when the city fell. It’s a simple steam-and-helium driven zeppelin.”
“But you have used chaos energy before. What are these weapons you mentioned?”
“They’re terrible devices. Ray guns and energy staffs and whatever else the tinkers can think of. Some of them are useful - we were in the process of getting an energy shield fitted to our biggest cargo vessel. But overall, I think they’re more danger than they’re worth.”
Kate’s eyes lost focus and Daniel smiled at Alicia and thanked her for all the information. He dragged Kate to the poop deck, well away from the others, and said, “What’s going on, babe?”
“The world is finally going the way we need it to. I don’t know how the belief will get built back up after the last city we went to, but this one seems to be just the thing we need.”
“Sounds a little chaotic to me,” Daniel said. “What are you planning on?”
“Well, we need to find out if there’s a basis for belief in us there. I’m wondering where the pirates and the mad scientists fall in the belief scenario. If we’re on the border of the Wasteland, I’m really curious what’s beyond it.”
