I staggered to my feet.
"Can you hear us, Kat?" asked Ben.
I nodded.
"The airship is coming," said Anton. "We need you to hide so we can ambush it."
"Where's Ana? Or Brassy? Are they safe?" I asked, the words tumbling out of my mouth.
Rowan spoke. "Ana's on the plains with Harvest, and we haven't found Brassy yet. We need you to hide. Can you come with me?"
I followed Rowan into a building. The space was claustrophobic. I needed the soothing winter air to siphon the heat from my skin.
Rowan's face loomed into view. She bristled with feralness. Her lips were stained with red blood. Unbridled energy radiated from her.
"Wait here," she said. "We'll get you when we have the airship."
"Don't," I said. "Don't hurt them."
Her forehead wrinkled in confusion.
I spoke again. "Don't kill anymore. We've been tricked."
Rowan flinched slightly, then nodded and left the building.
I paced around the small house, taking in the details, trying to ignore what was going on outside. It was a one-room home. A battered woven mat covered the dirt floor, upon which sat a table and chairs. A ratty mattress lay on a frame. A handmade doll of rags stuffed with straw hid beneath the bed. Its eyes had been painted on, along with a smiling mouth that could have been sad.
Ben appeared a while later, taking me back outside. At a place down the street, the airship hovered above a loading platform. Cargo nets hung beneath the gondola for carrying timber. White smoke rolled from pipes, ascending into the sky in a pale pillar.
The crew of the airship stood away from the platform, guarded by a couple of Yaran warriors in Nenet furs. They'd tricked the airship into landing and had boarded before the crew had realized it. A few of the crew had bloody marks on their faces from the scuffle.
The captain of the airship, a woman with pink cheeks, a hard stare, and a dirty tailored coat, was held down with ropes. One of Anton's men had a rifle to her head, but that didn't make her cower. Her eyes burned with hatred.
As I walked up to the woman, her eyes widened, then narrowed as if she'd judged me in that instant.
I crouched onto my heels, still naked, warm steam rising from my faintly glowing skin.
"Apologies, Captain," I said. "We will leave and never come back. This raid was a mistake."
Her gaze gave no quarter. She spit on my leg. The saliva sizzled before rolling into the mud as foam.
I made my way into the gondola. Just inside, I found Brassy wrapped in blankets, shivering as Rowan tended her fleshy arm. It appeared she'd taken a nasty blow. Rowan was sewing the pulped flesh back together.
Haida was leaning against the wall with bandages around her head.
"Why don't you use your gift?" I asked Rowan.
Rowan's gaze immediately went to Haida. "Don't tell me how to do my work."
Admonished, I moved through the hallways, avoiding other people, until I found the captain's quarters. I'd left my clothing outside, so I found appropriate attire.
My skin wasn't as hot as before, so I was able to put on a modest layer of pants and a hide shirt and return to the pilot's room.
Ben was working the controls as if he'd been born an airship captain, while Koryak and Anton looked on. After a subtle lurch, we lifted into the sky, leaving the Aerie.
Through the glass, I watched the village grow smaller, though the distance never diminished the swath of destruction we'd created.
No one spoke to me, as my failure to kill the dragon was known. But that was not what weighed heavily on my conscience. I knew we'd been tricked, but I didn't know who was behind it besides the creature beneath Ice Lake that called itself the Great One. Until I could speak to the others in private, I would hold my concerns tightly to my breast.
Not long after the airship crossed over the line of mountains that descended into the snowy plains, a cry exited Koryak's lips as he pointed into the distance.
Through the white smoke that surrounded the airship, we could see a large brown shape lumbering across the whiteness while four shadows pursued. It was the result of a long chase. Harvest and Ana were about to be overtaken.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The airship lurched downward as Ben punched the controls forward, increasing the speed at the same time with another lever. The engine's pitch rose until the keening made me squint.
"We're not going to reach them in time," yelled Ben.
"The shadow wolves only need to touch them to absorb them. Even the protections I extend to my guardian won't save him," said Rowan.
I ran out of the room to find the cargo hold. This ship wasn't nearly as large as the Brave Eagle, the airship that I'd rescued President Washington on, but it was large enough to haul machines and timber through the sky. The back half of the ship was filled with engines where additional crew quarters would normally be located. I began to realize the cloud that surrounded it was from the additional engines, rather than an attempt to cloak itself.
A ladder went down into the hold, which was filled with stained wooden tables, bone saws, and copper troughs. It smelled like old death. This was where they processed the meat and fur after killing the caribou.
I was looking for a hatch. I ran back and forth twice before I found what I was looking for. The sawdust on the floor had soaked up old blood and filled in the cracks in the curved wood, so it'd been difficult to see the hatch.
After wiping away the crusty sawdust, I found a chain and yanked it open. A gust of wind swirled into the cargo hold, throwing dust everywhere, forcing me to hold my forearm over my face.
I stuck my head out to see we were still a kilometer or two from Harvest and Ana. The airship was only three hundred meters above the plains. Getting down to their level wouldn't be the problem.
There was no simple way to climb onto the netting. It hung about two meters beneath the hull of the gondola. The ropes were thick, but the holes between the crisscross patterns were large enough that I could fall through.
Like a cat falling from a great height, I dropped through the hole, spreading my arms to maximize my area so I wouldn't miss the ropes. The impact smacked me around the neck and midsection, stunning me for a moment.
The wind was ferocious, shifting and slamming into my face as we descended. My earlier internal fires had subsided, but I was still warm despite the freezing temperatures.
Crouched on the ropes, I studied our approach. We were too far away. We wouldn't reach Harvest and Ana in time to save them from the wolves of shadow. The name Rowan had called them came to mind. Sajhingatti. Spawn of Veles. Eaters of magic.
Rowan had said they were drawn to the greater magic, which was why Ana had gone with Harvest rather than Koryak. So I needed to get their attention. Slow them down, even a little bit, so we might reach Harvest and Ana before the wolves got them.
I could barely make out Ana on the great grizzly's back. She had to be exhausted from holding on for hours while the bear lumbered along.
Thrusting my hands beneath the ropes, I sent waves of sorcery into the air beneath the ship, careful not to damage the netting. The wolves kept pace, their intercept with Harvest drawing them on.
I sent another volley. Ice, mud, and snow were blown back into my face, stinging my unprotected skin. I hadn't realized how low we'd gotten. The distance between the airship and the snowy plain had been difficult to discern. My sorcery had blown a hole in the earth.
But the wolves didn't move. They kept after Harvest. We were about a half a kilometer behind them. Too far to save them before the wolves overtook.
I had more magic to give, but I was afraid I'd burn through the netting or damage the airship. If we crashed, then no one would escape the sajhingatti.
I knew what I had to do. I couldn't let them take my daughter. I'd only just been reunited with Anastasia, and now the spawn of Veles were going to take her away.
It only took a moment to maneuver myself through the ropes;
I hung down, the wind beneath the airship swirling snow around me. The drop was terrifying, but brief.
I hit hard, catapulting headfirst into the snow. Because it was a few feet deep, I wasn't injured. I climbed out of the pile, feeling like an idiot for what I'd just done as I watched the airship slide away from me across the plains.
From my angle, I could see the grizzly's rear moving away. Dark shapes were in pursuit.
"This better work," I said softly to myself.
The well of magic in my head was somewhat drained from my earlier efforts. I'd filled the air balloon with heat, battled with sorcery in the village, and drank a heat-filled poison. I likely wouldn't have the energy to do what I needed to do. I'd pushed too hard, for too long.
But my daughter's life was as stake. I'd already lost Pavel to the witch Neva. I couldn't lose Anastasia, too.
When the magic came, it flooded from my body in a torrent. Rather than direct the flow, I concentrated on accessing it raw. Magic blew from my body in all directions. Snowdrifts turned to steam. Frozen mud was melted, dried, and stripped of moisture in moments.
When my energy faltered, I concentrated on the image of Ana falling beneath the shadows as if they were axe blades. Whatever I had left, I gave for her, lasting the earth around me as a force of nature more powerful than a tornado.
If the sajhingatti were attracted by the greater magic, then there was nothing else they should want.
When I could no longer sustain my exhalation of power, I collapsed into the pit I had created. My magic had stripped away the land around me, so I stood in the middle of a barren crater.
In that moment, the danger of my power became clear. How easy it was to lay waste to the world.
But such things were not my concern. Crouched on my hands and knees, I listened with my whole body. A few months ago, the wails of shadow wolves had sent fear reverberating through my body. Now, I listened expectantly, hoping to hear their pursuits growing in my ears.
The first howl was pure joy. The second was concern. By the time the third and fourth wolves added their voices, I had reached complete dread.
Over the blinding whiteness, four dark shapes bounded in my direction. Beyond them, the airship cruised across the landscape, mere meters above the snow.
I'd saved Ana but doomed myself. Even a fool could see the airship would never turn around in time to save me. I didn't bother running. I was barefoot, wearing only light pants and a shirt. Snowflakes clung to my eyelashes. The drifts would keep me from moving very fast.
So I watched for the moment that the airship picked up Harvest and Ana. I saw their shapes climb into the cargo netting, and a great relief fell over me.
The wolves of shadow approached at a predator's pace. They knew I was trapped, and had slowed so they could surround me.
As the first one crested the snow, I got a glimpse of a sajhingatti for the first time. The word wolf only described the creature in size and general shape.
If shadows could be made solid, then hacked into the rough form of a wolf, then that's how the sajhingatti had been created. At each step, they shifted slightly, as if the sunlight flickered through invisible trees across their bodies. Their broken-stone howls shuddered and clicked like claws across chains.
The airship was still a half a kilometer away when the wolves of shadow surrounded me. They stood on the four corners of the compass, only a few meters away.
I'd expected them to descend upon me like a lamb, tearing my magical soul to bits. An awful high-pitched whine emanated from their bodies, making my teeth hurt.
I waited for the final attack. Waited for them to annihilate me.
When it did not come, I began to suspect the purpose that they had been created for.
As I stood on the snowy Siberian plain, surrounded by a crater of dirt of my making and the sajhingatti, I watched the airship approach at its languid pace. The nearer it got, the more I was certain that the wolves were only delaying to make a spectacle of my demise.
But at each heartbeat, they did not attack.
They did, however, flicker and whine more frantically, as if they were waiting for a secret word to release them. They wanted me, but held back.
When the airship slid over my head, a rope ladder fell from the sky. The wolves moved closer, but refused to attack. I grabbed the rope, the heat poison from earlier finally wearing off, and rose into the sky as the airship lifted up.
The sajhingatti let loose a series of howls that were so awful I nearly released the ladder. I wanted to cover my ears, needed to cover my ears.
Then the howls stopped, and the wind reclaimed its prominence in my hearing. I made the final climb into the belly of the airship.
Chapter Thirty
The journey back to Ice Lake didn't take long, since we had acquired an airship. It took even less time than I was aware, since I slept through the trip. So I did not have time to discuss what I had learned from Tugain, which was for the best since in the eyes of the Yaran, I had failed.
Ben and Rowan came to visit me the next day, but they had Anton with them. They asked about the dragon and the fate of the spear. I watched Anton's face closely when I mentioned Tugain, but he made no indication that he recognized the name. But still, I didn't trust him, so I left out the important details.
Later, when I was rested, I sent a note to Ben and Rowan that I wanted them to join me at the hot springs near Ice Lake. It was a place Ana had told me about after I first arrived.
With the threat of the airship eliminated, we were given our freedom to travel outside. I was sitting in the hot spring while snow kissed into water when they arrived in their furs, bundled against the cold.
My furs were draped over a boulder near the edge of the water.
"Is this your attempt to get us naked?" asked Ben with a grin.
"Attempt? I'm certain I will succeed. And besides, I showed the whole village my fleshy parts, so I figure that it's my turn to ogle," I said.
"Ogle? I've never ogled in my life. Admired? Possibly. Enjoyed? Certainly. But ogling implies an ickiness that I do not approve of," said Ben.
Rowan was chuckling while disrobing. The warm furs slid from her pale flesh.
"For the record, I was ogling," said Rowan. "Though mostly I was worried that poor Ben had poisoned you irrevocably."
Ben Franklin, ever the admirer of womanly flesh, watched Rowan Blade descend into the water until only her head stuck above it.
He cleared his throat, suddenly realizing that he'd been staring.
"You know, for your age, you're remarkably young looking," he said as he started unbuttoning his shirt.
Rowan raised an eyebrow. "I thought it was part of your culture not to inquire about a woman's age."
"I'm not inquiring. Just stating a fact. A lovely fact, but a fact, nonetheless," he said with a wink.
"If you two are done flirting, we have important business to discuss," I said, watching Ben slip confidently into the steaming water.
"Flirting is important business," said Ben sternly. "It quickens the heart and increases blood flow. I'm doing it for purely medical reasons."
His face stayed perfectly still, and for a moment, I thought he was being serious, but then he gave me a secretive wink.
"Why again did you call us here?" asked Ben. "Not that I'm complaining about the company, the view, or the circumstances of our attire."
After a deep breath, I went into a detailed explanation of my encounter with the dragon, including everything Tugain had said. Then I went into my thoughts about what really was going on, that the whole raid had been a trick and the Nenet were a peaceful people who had only been collecting timber and caribou, not bloodthirsty warriors doing the dirty work of a malevolent dragon.
They listened intently, then after a long pause, Ben asked, "What happened to the people in the village? It was once filled with people. I've heard enough stories to believe them. The warriors all have stories about being harried by the cloud dragon, which we now know
was just an airship covered in smoke."
"I don't have an answer to that," I said. "But everything else makes sense. Tugain wanted nothing to do with the Yaran, or even the Nenet. I think the dragon lives there because the people bring it goats and other animals as a sacrifice. I saw the bones and leashes in the cave as proof."
Rowan's wet hair had ice crystals in it as steam rose around her. "Tell me again what this Tugain said about the Great One."
I searched my memory before repeating: "Dragon? That is no dragon beneath Ice Lake."
"Then what is it? And how can this Great One suppress your prophecies? Are you even sure it's the one doing this deed?" asked Rowan.
"I cannot say who is suppressing them, but once the dragon told me, I knew it was true. I'd been wondering why they were so silent," I said.
"Why suppress them?" asked Ben.
"A strong person might bend them to their will," I repeated. "Maybe someone is concerned that I might use the prophecies against them. Or by keeping them from me, they can safely kill me without worrying about the repercussions since the prophecies of the Gamayun require knowledge to work. Without said fateful words, they cannot influence my decisions."
"An unheard prophecy cannot come true?" Ben asked Rowan.
The witch slid out of the water enough to make the semblance of a shrug. "It doesn't work exactly like that, but yes, that could be true. Could."
"Are you saying we raided the Nenet for nothing?" asked Ben sternly. "For what purpose was this done?"
"I wish I knew," I said.
"I assume by our small company that you do not trust the others," said Rowan.
"I trust my daughter, but I'm not sure I can trust Anton. Brassy, I left in the village so she could recover from her wounds and so we might keep our secrets easier. I worry about Koryak and the Uthlaylaa blood. Besides the power of illusion, he can control another using its magic. What if they questioned one of us in that way?"
Rowan raised an impetuous eyebrow. "I'm certain they could do no such thing to me."
Dragons of Siberia (The Dashkova Memoirs Book 7) Page 14
