Architects of Ether

by Ryan Muree

  He’d told her that he’d wanted to go into Ingini for his country, to absolve their responsibility in this mess. Would it be as simple as pointing a finger at who had swung the first punch? He’d asked her to support him, and of course, she would. She wanted to go home, but she wanted to help him just as much. Being with him, being a part of him, was becoming equally as important.

  And that terrified her.

  Grier turned the water off and dabbed his face with the white towel dangling on a nearby hook. When he finished, his eyes met hers in the reflection, and he smirked. “I’m sorry if I woke you.”

  She smiled back. “It could be worse. At least I’ve got a nice view.”

  He chuckled when a slight rap on the door echoed through the metal cabin. He sauntered over to it, undid the latch, and opened it a few inches.

  Emeryss reached above her head for her Zephyr suit draped over the railing of the headboard. Pulling it down under the covers, she slipped her feet in and wiggled it up her body.

  By the time Grier shut the door and latched it again, he’d turned to find her nearly dressed but still in bed.

  “How did you do that?” he asked. “And why?”

  “I wasn’t sure if you’d open the door completely. And it was just easier. Who was it?”

  “Vaughn. He was offering breakfast and mentioning that we have a couple more things to discuss and then we’re ready to move into Ingini.”

  Her chest squeezed. “Already? What time is it?”

  He padded across the metal grating and palmed the wall where the recessed window was hiding. The ship recognized the ether in him, and panels slid up and showed lush green hills and an orange sunset.

  “What?” She jumped up and peered out the window. “We slept all day?”

  “We didn’t get to bed until dawn. I hate to admit it but remind me never to play against Adalai in Warstory. She was a monster.”

  Emeryss grinned. “It was pretty impressive. I feel somewhat bad for Clove. She didn’t see it coming.” She pulled her dark hair over one shoulder and spun her back toward him. “Would you zip me up?”

  He dropped a small piece of paper on the side of the bed and slipped his hands inside the back of her suit instead. Warm, strong palms against her skin, he slid them up her sides and around her front beneath her breasts, pulling her back against him and nestling his mouth at her ear. “I’m more a fan of unzipping.”

  She took a deep breath and smiled. “Yes, well, unfortunately, the rest of the crew isn’t a fan of me walking around naked.”

  “I know I normally like to follow the rules but screw them.”

  She laughed. “Grier Rinnegan IV, I am positively shocked you’d break any rules.”

  He scoffed and pulled his hands away to zip her suit up. “Haven’t I though?”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Only the good ones, I guess.” Her eyes fell on the white parchment resting on the bed. “Was that from Vaughn? Is that from the Messenger?”

  He bit his lip and picked it up.

  So, probably not good news, then. She made for the sink and washed her face and brushed out her hair.

  She wouldn’t push him on it. Stadhold was his business now, and if he didn’t want to share it, she wouldn’t pry. She wanted to know, she wanted to be part of everything, but it scared her how easily that came to her. Mostly because of how badly it’d hurt when he’d eventually pull away and return to Stadhold.

  “I’m not going back, Emeryss.”

  She paused mid-stroke and nodded. He said that, and she believed it, but she also believed that people, like the sea and its tides, change.

  He’d put on his pants and reached for his shirt but sat on the bed with his elbows on his thighs. After a solid two minutes of sitting and staring at the floor, he leaned back and put his shirt on. “It’s just my mother. She’s demanding to know when I’ll return.”

  Emeryss replaced the brush to its spot on the shelf beside the sink. “And what will you tell her?”

  He tossed the paper into a small receptacle near the wall. “It doesn’t call for a response.” He stood and made for the door.

  If he thought that was the best way to handle her and he still needed to go forward with Ingini, then they could do it. And what was she afraid of? Dying? She should be so honored, right?

  Grier’s abyssal-deep eyes focused intently on her. Was he regretting this? Was he praying to the Goddess for mercy?

  He squeezed her hand.

  They’d be okay. No matter what, they’d be okay because they had each other.

  They were the last to arrive on the bridge.

  Adalai had bright white hair, and she took her position behind Jahree and Mykel at the navigation panel.

  Apparently, Jahree had dragged Mykel, hungover and exhausted, through all of Dansbrill, gathering some basic food, simple grimoires, several tarps Mykel would need to weave together, and other minor supplies.

  Adalai, however, was lively as ever, without so much as bags under her eyes.

  “You recover quickly,” Emeryss said.

  “Or she’s using a Glamour to convince us she doesn’t look like trash,” Vaughn quipped and chuckled to himself.

  Adalai glared at him for a second and turned back to the panel she was looming over. Everyone joined her in peering down at a map of the Stadhold-Ingini border, glowing bright yellow and blue.

  Adalai pressed her finger at the crevice in between. “Here’s the Bruskton Valley. We can’t go straight through to Ingini, obviously, so our best bet is to hug the Stadhold wall and border. With Clove’s confession, we need to get here—” She prodded a southern beach of Stadhold. “—So that we can get here.” She poked the map of an Ingini point slightly northeast from the coast.

  “That’s the mines she mentioned?” Grier asked.

  Adalai nodded. “I think a shipping point at a mine gives us a good chance to see if any crates of grimoires are coming through. Close to the border and with a landing zone, it would take very little effort to move the crates from Stadhold to Ingini.”

  Grier leaned back and crossed his thick arms over his broad chest. “You’re going to be heartbroken when you’re wrong.”

  “Or laughing when I’m right and your entire existence comes crashing down around you.” Adalai smirked at him.

  “My entire existence? Stadhold isn’t my entire existence; it’s my home.”

  “And how are we getting to the beach then?” Emeryss pressed, urging the conversation to return to what mattered. “I know we’re going through the valley, but they’re going to see us.”

  “I’m going to Glamour the ship,” Adalai said.

  Grier’s eyebrows narrowed. “Is that really possible—”

  “I can.”

  “You think you can?”

  “No, I can.” She mirrored his stance. “And while I’m doing that, Sonora will be silencing the ship.”

  Vaughn spun. “So, she has to do two things? Responding to communication requests and keeping the ship silent?”

  All eyes turned to Sonora, and she shrugged.

  “She volunteered,” Adalai said. “Where’s the Ingini?”

  “She was recuperating from last night. Urla’s bringing her,” Jahree said, straightening out his braids and cracking his knuckles before settling his palms on the panels.

  “Wish I could still be recuperating,” Mykel muttered.

  “This plan sounds too simple,” Grier said. “What happens when we get to the mines? What do we do if we’re caught—”

  “It’s too simple because it’s suicide.” Clove had joined them from behind with a surly stare. “You’re going to get everyone killed.”

  Clove joined them at the map and studied it. “I know I told you Gruskul Mines, but it’s suicide. There is no way you can disguise this thing for the entire trip. Every time you fly, every time you land, this ship can’t be as big as it is or look like it does. We’ll be shot down immediately.”

  Adalai looked like she could have roare
d and leaped across the room for her. She could see the predator in Adalai’s eyes.

  “We can use your ship,” Vaughn said.

  Adalai hissed at him.

  “Sorry, the… other ship… that we found… you… in.”

  Pigyll? They had Pigyll?

  “It needs enlarging and repairing, but that’s a good idea,” Jahree said. “I don’t know how to fly it, but you can show me, right?” He was looking at her with his soft brown eyes, and she nodded once.

  Vaughn pointed at the border wall between Ingini and Revel. “I don’t understand why we can’t go back to Fort Damned or whatever. If that’s where she was dropping off grimoires, then they have grimoires.”

  “Yes,” Jahree said. “She brought them in, but that’s not explaining who’s getting them in for her to move the crates. We need to find how the country is getting them in the first place. We need a ship, crewmen, a shipping label…”

  “Okay, so we go to Fort Damned, and we read a shipping label or whatever, see where they’re coming from, and call it. Done.”

  “That’s a base,” Clove said. “A United Architects base with a giant laser cannon—”

  “Had…” Emeryss said. “The UA had a giant laser cannon. I blew it off.”

  Clove shook her head. “They still have a ton of airships and equipment.”

  “So, going to Gruskul mines is suicide, but so is Fort Damned.” Adalai glared at her from across the map. “Isn’t that convenient?”

  Clove put her hands on the table and bent forward. “Let me be very clear. It’s suicide for you, not me. I’ll still be alive.”

  Adalai scoffed. “So, now you’re being charitable? Warning us? Right…”

  “I can’t have you die, either,” Clove said.

  Adalai squinted at her. “Why’s that?”

  “Because Jahree promised he’d help me find my brother if I got you back into Revel alive.” She’d recalled it in the middle of the night and forced herself to remember it for later.

  “You what?” Adalai wheeled her head around to Jahree. “Are you kidding me?”

  He licked his lips and shrugged a shoulder. “We need information. We need help. If you want to survive this, we need everything we can get.”

  “I can’t believe you—” Adalai started.

  “What does it matter to you?” Jahree held his hands out. “It’s my promise. Everyone wins.”

  She hadn’t meant to cause problems between him and his crew. She certainly hadn’t meant to say anything to jeopardize what he’d promised—if he was even good for it.

  He’d said he considered her a person, and she’d confessed he wasn’t a total bastard like Adalai. And maybe it was dumb to trust him, but what else did she have to trust?

  Adalai might be using her, but Jahree was making sure things were fair at least.

  “Because this is my plan—”

  “So, because this is your plan, we’re supposed to go along with it no matter how dangerous it might be?”

  “How dangerous it might be? Trusting the Ingini who’d thought she was bringing her people bombs is dangerous. Trusting her to get us around her country is dangerous. I’m doing this for our people—”

  “And we can’t do that if we’re dead. Clove is an excellent resource to help us do this, and I trust her. Give a little, to take a little.”

  Adalai looked as if she could pry his skin off with her nails, and it made Clove smile. She wouldn’t go back on her word to Jahree, but that was just it. She’d promised Jahree. If he happened to be the only one to get out of Ingini safely, then that’s all she needed to find her brother. She made no promises about keeping Adalai alive.

  “What if we go back to where she picked up the crates?” Vaughn asked.

  “No,” Clove said, shaking her head. “Absolutely not.”

  “Why not?” Adalai asked, piercing her with her stare.

  “Because even though I’d like to see you killed, going to Luckless is bad, even for me.”

  Vaughn leaned over to Mykel and whispered, “How shitty is it to not be safe in your own city?”

  His tone suggested he’d said it more out of fear and curiosity, but Adalai, without skipping a beat or looking away from Clove, said, “Because that’s how shitty Ingini is.”

  Clove took a deep breath. For Cayn. “A lot of the goods we get from Revel comes through Sufford, the small town where everyone who works for the Gruskul Mines lives.” They stared blankly at her until she pointed to a spot northeast of the mines. “That’s where Sufford is. This isn’t the only mine, but it’s a major one that a lot of the goods come through. Typically, they get smuggled over and transported through the tracks up into Ethrecity or Luckless.”

  Adalai shrugged a shoulder. “So, we might have to go into the mines. Fine.”

  “That still doesn’t tell us who is bringing them in,” Grier said.

  “We could get lucky and see someone dropping them off,” Mykel added.

  “Or, as I said before, we check the shipping labels,” Vaughn said. “Clove’s came with labels, but they’d been torn off at the top.”

  “Probably in Fort Damned,” Clove said. “They were supposed to take them all, but then you attacked.”

  Adalai scoffed.

  “Whoever’s picking them up at the border or bringing them in would have to label them carefully,” Clove added. “That’s not a terrible idea.”

  “Oh, is it?” Adalai bit.

  “I don’t give two shits about grimoires,” Clove said. “I didn’t know I was carrying them, I wouldn’t have cared if I had known, and I don’t need them. Find them, figure out who’s bringing them over. I don’t care. All I care about is getting back.”

  “We already know they’re being labeled as bombs,” Grier said, moving the conversation along. “Right?”

  Clove nodded.

  “Similar crates with locks and an order form for bombs might be more grimoires, then,” Grier said.

  “They’d have who they’re coming from in their identification numbers,” Clove said. “That’s how the receivers know who’s bringing stuff in on time and whatever.”

  Mykel clapped his hands. “Okay, so we get through the border to the coast. Switch airships. I’ll probably have to camouflage the Zephyr—”

  “And us,” Vaughn said. “We’ll need new clothes to look like Ingini.”

  Mykel nodded. “Okay, new clothes, and we’ll head for Gruskul, sneak into the mines if we don’t see anyone loading anything there at the moment, find a crate with a shipping label that matches what we need, and we’re done—”

  “No.” Clove shook her head. “We are not going into the mines. You have no idea what the mines will do to you.”

  Several mutterings and murmurs moved around the group.

  “I’ve done several things in my lifetime, so I’m not scared of a few weird interactions with raw ether,” Urla chimed in.

  “No,” Clove said. “You don’t understand. It changes your mind, it alters your spirit. It makes you different.”

  “Aren’t they enslaved in there, too?” Vaughn whispered to Adalai.

  Clove’s nostrils flared, the anger roiling up her sternum. “They’re not enslaved; they’re slaves to the job. The big deal is that several people die every year working in the mines. It brings out the worst part of yourself, your fears, your hate. It gives you hallucinations, makes you physically ill. You’re not yourself, and you become addicted to it until you’re willing to kill others for it and you’re licking the walls—literally!”

  Vaughn pulled back and winced. “Then why do it?”

  “For money! To care for your family. To eat. But the fact remains that people you love and care for go in and come out different, or they never come out and they die from it. It slowly poisons them to death. I will not be going into those mines.”

  “Does it have anything to do with you being an Ingineer?” Adalai squinted at her.

  Her stomach flipped over. She’d forgotten she’d told
them about that and Emeryss had figured it out. “I’m not an Ingineer.”

  “But you knew about trances and using ether,” Emeryss said. “You’re supposed to be a Scribe. Well, an Ingini Scribe.”

  She bit her lip. “Fine. Sure, I’m supposed to be a Scribe or an Ingineer or whatever, but I don’t care about it. I don’t like doing it, it makes things go crazy if it’s done wrong, and—”

  “Good,” Adalai said. “We won’t ask you to do it.”

  After a short pause and silent glances, Sonora cleared her throat. “I think we can all agree we don’t want to go into the mines. But I think if we take one step at a time, we can figure that out as we go. Presumably, there could be crates outside of the mine, waiting to be loaded or unloaded?”

  Clove shrugged. “Maybe. There are two entrances: the main one and the back-escape exit for emergencies. The main one is where the landing zone is.”

  “So,” Sonora said, continuing, “we’ll only go in if we have to, agreed?”

  They could, but she wouldn’t.

  “If anything goes wrong, we’ll blast our way out,” Adalai said.

  “No!” Clove shouted. “No casting.”

  A few scoffed, and Adalai asked, “Excuse me?”

  “I mean, Ingineers can’t do their thing inside a mine, and I’ve had more than a few accidents because of my own ether stuff. It’s a cave of raw ether,” Clove said.

  Emeryss nodded. “Not to mention it’s underground. I’d rather not be stuck in a cave-in.”

  “Who’s going then?” Vaughn asked, looking at everyone. “Who’s going to look for the crates?”

  “Not it,” Mykel said, pointing to his nose. “I’m weak when it comes to ethyrol.”

  “I will,” Adalai said, “with Clove to help us navigate through it.”

  Clove glared at her.

  “I will,” Grier said. “I think my mind is strong enough to withstand an hour or so easily.”

  “Then, me, too,” Emeryss said. “I’ve spent hours in the ethereal realm. I think I could do it.”

  “Count me in,” Sonora added. “I can do it. I haven’t spent hours in another realm, but I think I can face it. I don’t get sick often.”