Architects of Ether

by Ryan Muree

  “It’s only fake to those few involved at the top making money,” Adalai said. “There’s money to be had in contracts rebuilding cities. There’s money with the REV moving in and helping those citizens and smuggling grimoires over. The airships, the supplies, the training. It’s still war. It’s just that someone from the inside is pulling the strings.”

  “Ada,” Sonora said, “I think we all know it’s General—”

  “Silverfox? You really think bald and grizzled Orr would name himself Silverfox?” Adalai continued pacing. “It’s not Orr. It’s someone else. They’d need access to the grimoires and funding. Someone close to him. Someone who would know where to move money in just the right places to keep his motives hidden.” Her head shot up.

  Mykel snorted. “Could you imagine if Silverfox was the king? How ridiculous would that be? Wait, you don’t think it’s Advisor O’Brecht—”

  “Nendrik.” Adalai’s nostrils flared. “It’s damned Nendrik!”

  Clove watched them as the group considered Adalai’s accusation.

  Urla nodded. “He’s handsome, and he’s in charge of the finances.”

  “That doesn’t explain Orr not informing you of the attack or those escort guys kidnapping Emeryss,” Grier said.

  “We don’t get to know everything Orr is doing,” Adalai said. “I admit that sometimes I get some things that other people don’t because he considers me his protégé, but he wouldn’t kill us off. The last time Caster? Kayson? The Neerian Scribe?” She gestured to Emeryss.

  “I thought you were Caster?” Clove asked.

  “I was a Scribe.” Emeryss smiled.

  Urla raised her hands. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves. We may never know why he didn’t inform us of all that, or what his plans were for Emeryss. He could have gotten tipped off that this Goliath airship was coming, and he decided to strike first and get Emeryss out of it. Maybe he thought he could end it before it started, but he needed the element of surprise to be strong. Whatever his reasons, we need to focus on the Goliath.”

  Clove agreed. She wasn’t interested in their petty politics between advisors and generals and kings. It was messy and stupid. None of those higher-ups had earned their places. They’d been born into them—power on a golden platter. “The mining foreman would know about the Goliath if Kimpert won’t tell us. If Mack knew about it, and Kimpert was getting grimoires through the mining foreman, then it would make sense that he knows about it, too.”

  Adalai pointed a finger at her. “He might know where it’s stored, what it does—”

  “What it has to do with grimoires?” Grier suggested. “We came here for that reason alone. It makes sense that we see it through, so I can report it back to Stadhold.”

  “That’s better. Find out about the airship. Then we can decide how to destroy it.” Adalai turned to Clove. “Where’s the safest place to hunker down and hide?”

  “The coast?” she guessed.

  “Even better.” Adalai turned to Jahree. “Can you get us to the coast?”

  He was already moving to the pilot’s chair.

  Adalai headed towards the cargo hold. “Time to wake up and interrogate the foreman.”

  Chapter 15

  Pigyll — Ingini

  Adalai pushed the door open and entered the cargo hold.

  She hated how tiny this ship was compared to the Zephyr. They really had it good, but no, the Zephyr was at the bottom of the ocean, and she was stuck in this tin can, hearing how her country was selling them out for power. For stupid power.

  Sure, she liked grimoires as much as the next person, but not enough to destroy an entire nation. These morons couldn’t take it with them to the otherworld. What was the point?

  The cargo hold was cold. So cold, Kimpert had curled herself into a ball in the corner and shivered. The mining foreman had his eyes closed as he, too, was curled up against the corner of his own cage.

  “I want him out,” she ordered.

  Mykel undid the lock and opened the gate.

  The foreman jerked awake and looked at them. “Where am I? Who are you?”

  Grier reached in and dragged him out by the collar. Kimpert watched in silence.

  Good.

  The foreman’s wrinkles around his eyes showed how old he was—mid 50’s, maybe? His black jumper was only a little cleaner than those miners had been, and probably because his were black and he was the boss. His face was a little scruffy, and his eyes were a little red.

  “Hey, there. Remember me?” She snapped her fingers in front of his face.

  The foreman swallowed and squirmed back against Grier. Grier didn’t budge. “You’re that girl! You messed with my head. You’re a Caster!” His eyes roved over them. “You’re all Casters! You’re Revelians!” He screamed and wiggled the best he could.

  Grier shook him still. “Cut it out.”

  The man trembled. “Look, I just… I just work at the mines. I don’t have anything to do with the war—”

  “You’re transporting grimoires. Our grimoires. His grimoires.” Adalai nodded in Grier’s direction.

  The man looked up at his captor and shook his head. “I’m just the middle man, man. I know nothing. I get paid for pushing them through. Kimpert here, she makes the money for it. I barely make a few coins with nothing to show for it.”

  “What about the Goliath?”

  He shook his head repeatedly. “The Goliath? What’s the Goliath?”

  When they didn’t respond, he continued. “I don’t know what that is. They don’t tell me what the ether is for. I mine it and send it on its way. The grimoires were part of the deal. Kimpert asked me to receive them and get them through. That’s all I know about that, and I’m poor for it. Look at me!”

  Urla stepped forward. “Really?”

  “Yeah, I—” He swallowed, and then squinted and tilted his head. “Do I—? Were you in the mines?”

  “No,” she said, eyebrows raised.

  “Are you—? Do I know you?”

  Silence. So much so, she could hear Vaughn breathing through his mouth over the airship’s engine.

  “I wasn’t sure at first, but now after hearing your whining and pleading, I’m certain.” Urla straightened. “I believe you know me very well, Lieutenant Hall. And I also believe you remember what I can do.”

  The foreman’s eyes grew twice as big. “Ur-Ur-Urla, the Stonebreaker,” he whispered.

  Urla fluttered her eyelashes, seemingly embarrassed by the… compliment?

  “Urla, the what?” Mykel blurted.

  “Stonebreaker.” The foreman, Lieutenant Hall, scrambled back against Grier, but Grier still hadn’t budged. He dwarfed him by a good foot at least. “She… she got inside your heart.” He gripped his chest. “She seduced her way into your life, used you, drained you dry of everything physically and mentally, threatening you with a quick jolt to the heart. Just before you thought you would get yours, she’d either leave you stone cold or your stones cold.”

  Everyone’s eyes fell to Urla.

  “You what?” Adalai shouted. “What the shit?”

  Urla shrugged a little. “It was long before all of you. Twenty-five years ago, maybe. It was just a way to—”

  “Move up the ranks,” Hall said. “Get favors. She used me!”

  Vaughn gasped, stifling a laugh.

  Urla fluffed her pale hair a little and stepped toward him. “Yes, well,” she continued, “funny how quick you were to abandon your wives and girlfriends… and now, your country?”

  “You were in the RCA?” Adalai asked, finally piecing together how Urla would know and use him.

  “He was. He was in the RCA as Lieutenant Hall. He’s actually Revelian. Did you know that Kimpert?” Urla leaned forward to check on their other prisoner. Kimpert shrugged away. “Yes, I imagine she did. How many of you are out here, Hall?”

  Hall shook his head, still trembling.

  “Check his wrists!” Adalai ordered.

  Vaughn grabbed them,
and Grier held them up. “Nothing. He’s got no ether.”

  “Why don’t you cut the act, then?” Urla zapped him on the forehead, right between the eyes, leaving a purple-red mark the size of her fingerprint.

  Hall looked around for a second and then straightened. His entire demeanor shifted. “You all can get bent. I’m not telling you a thing.”

  “There are others here? Other Revelian RCA members in Ingini?” Adalai looked to Clove.

  Clove shrugged. “I had no idea.”

  “Of course not,” Urla said. “Because they’re pulling the strings. They’re the ones helping the real Ingini like Kimpert get the deals in Revel.”

  “How did you figure this out, Urla?” Vaughn asked.

  “How else would Kimpert even know to contact Silverfox? Speaking of which, who is Silverfox?” Urla asked Hall. He made the motion to spit on her face, but she already had her hands wrapped around his mouth, shocking him. “I’ll ask one more time. Who is Silverfox?”

  He laughed when she let go. “Kill me if you want. I don’t care. That laser in Marana did the job, and that’s all I care about.”

  Sonora’s hands tightened into fists. “You and the others are selling us out to Ingini. Ingini is selling them out to us. This is ludicrous. Everyone is behind this. No one can be trusted. This is too big, Adalai. We need to go back.”

  Hall gestured to Sonora. “Listen to her. She’s smart.”

  No way. Adalai wasn’t about to let some has-been RCA member who’d conspired against her country get away with this. If they were in Revel, Orr would have had this man tried and executed.

  She held her hand out to Mykel. “You got a bolt on you?”

  “I always have something.” He dug around in his pockets and pulled out a small, metal bolt.

  Adalai took it and held it out for Vaughn. “Enlarge it just big enough for his head.”

  “Adalai,” Emeryss warned. “Don’t do something you can’t take back.”

  Vaughn did as he was told.

  She lifted the bolt and slid it over Hall’s head and around his neck. “Now, shrink it just enough.”

  Vaughn snapped his fingers, and the bolt shrunk enough so it wouldn’t come off Hall’s head if he tried.

  Hall wobbled on tired legs and grunted. “What is this? What are you doing? You’re a matter Caster?” He groaned under the weight at his shoulders.

  “He can add more,” Adalai said. “How many RCA are here working for Ingini?”

  Grier held him upright as Hall struggled to speak and hold his head and shoulders up. “Several. Too many. You’re screwed.”

  “Why are they here?”

  He laughed again.

  She looked at Vaughn, and he took a deep breath.

  He couldn’t get cold feet now. She needed him to be threatening, or they’d never get the answers.

  He snapped his fingers again, and the metal grew thicker, heavier.

  “Why are they here?” she asked again.

  Hall grunted. “They work with the CEOs. All of them are behind this. It’s all about whatever they can get. What is it always about? Money? Power? All the above. You’re enslaved by the job, by the resources, by the chains you can’t even see.” He laughed harder, and it took everything she had not to stab him through that burn mark left by Urla.

  “And the Goliath?” she asked.

  Sweat dripped down his temples.

  She gestured at Vaughn again. Vaughn snapped his fingers a third time, and Hall cried out, the weight around his neck too heavy.

  He wasn’t going to give them everything, but they didn’t need everything. They just needed enough. If they could find out where the Goliath was in Sufford or what the grimoires were used for, they could figure out the rest to stop it.

  She motioned for Grier to let him go and get out of the way. He did, and she pulled out her dagger.

  Hall struggled to stand, crumpling forward under the weight. She bent forward to meet his stare and lifted his chin to look at her. “Are you teaching them how to read the grimoires?”

  He shook his head.

  “Are you helping them make Casters?”

  He shook his head again. “I’m not telling you shit, you dumb ass Revelian.”

  “You’re Revelian, too, you traitor!” she screamed back at him.

  “I’m nothing. I belong to no one. Those of us in power never do.” He smiled and then groaned, still straining.

  Maybe they didn’t need him.

  She looked back over her shoulder at Kimpert. She was definitely watching, terror stricken across her clenched jaw and raised eyebrows. They could get Kimpert to talk. She had a lot more to lose than this idiot. Kimpert just needed the right motivation.

  “Tell Jahree to open the cargo hold.”

  “Ada—” Sonora started.

  “Jahree!” she shouted, hoping he’d hear her through to the pilot’s chair. “Open the cargo hold!”

  Hall’s eyes grew wide. “What are—”

  The whir of the mechanisms in the airship echoed through the metal hull. The door slid open, and cold, moist air rushed in at top speed.

  “Adalai, wait,” Mykel said.

  “Adalai, no,” Sonora shouted. “We need to find out about the grimoires!”

  The wind buffeting inside the airship was thunderous, whipping around her hair. It was like a drumbeat marking down the seconds, telling her to do it. Hall didn’t deserve a second chance. If he wasn’t going to give them information, then he was better used as a threat to someone who would.

  “Take us over the ocean,” she shouted to Jahree, hoping he could still hear her.

  Far below, the dark land passed from black to blue, and then to black with white crests. Waves. The ocean.

  “We’re not as bad as they are, Adalai,” Grier said. “You can’t take this back if you do this.”

  And why not? She’d killed for her country before. Enemies were everywhere, and she had to figure out how to stop it.

  “This is not a good idea,” Emeryss added. “Let’s think this through first!”

  There was nothing left to think through. She could only trust what she knew for certain, and that was she knew how to get Kimpert to talk.

  Hall thought he had them. He thought he’d won, or the Ingini and the wealthy had won.

  Guys like Hall, even Kimpert, weren’t playing fair. They were rigging the system, and Orr had shown her that doing what had to be done for the RCA, for the country, always took precedence.

  It’s what good leaders do, he’d said.

  And she would be a great one. She’d make sure of that.

  She stood upright and glared down at him. He wasn’t worth final words, some curt remark he’d never remember. She simply nudged his shoulder.

  He teetered on the edge, losing his balance until he fell out. His mouth was open. He probably screamed, but it was lost in the rush of the wind. Several seconds later, there was a tiny splash of white in the black sea.

  The cold would take him quick.

  The bolt would drag him down.

  She turned back, ignoring her crew’s wide eyes and gaped mouths. “Feel like talking yet, Kimpert?”

  Chapter 16

  Grier & Emeryss’s Bunk — Pigyll — Ingini

  Emeryss slipped into the bunk alongside Grier and shut the privacy screen behind her.

  There were no more rooms like they had on the Zephyr. Pigyll was far too small, and they only had enough room for several bunks with thin screens in the sides of the walls leading to the cargo hold.

  Jahree had settled the airship farther up the coastline in a rocky alcove, and Mykel had disguised it well enough they could sleep for the night and think through the next part of their plan.

  Wrapping her arms around Grier’s chest, she rested her forehead between his shoulder blades.

  “I know you’re not asleep,” she said low.

  His breathing wasn’t the smooth even depth she’d gotten used to, and his heart beneath her palms thudded t
oo strongly.

  He took a deep breath, his ribs expanding against hers.

  Their stolen moments at night had been just that—stolen. The privacy screens may not have been transparent, but they were the opposite of soundproof. Every snore, every cough, every sound from everyone while sleeping was heard by everyone.

  “What is it? Is it Kimpert? Is it the Goliath?” she whispered. “Adalai?”

  It had been two days since she’d thrown Hall into the ocean with a bolt around his neck. Two days of a near-silent airship, unless it was time to interrogate Kimpert again. The event hadn’t sat right with any of them, and yet, none of them were disagreeing that it had to be done. Maybe that fact bothered them more, especially since it’d worked and Kimpert eventually gave up the information.

  “I didn’t move to stop her, Emeryss. I’d like to think I’m better than that, but I stood there and watched her kill that man.”

  “Yeah, but before—”

  “The Battle of Marana was my first.” He settled his shoulders and hips.

  She’d always thought of him as the trained soldier, the honed guardian, but he was right. Stadhold hadn’t been in many skirmishes, and he’d been required to stay back and protect her during those.

  “I reasoned through the killing in Marana because it was something I had to do. I’ve had nightmares like you. I’ve doubted the purpose of it all. They’re people, like us, doing what they’re told.

  I told myself that the difference was that they came and asked for a fight. They were a threat. Die or kill them first. I did what I had to do to protect you and the others. I didn’t go into their territory and murder them. I was defending us.”

  And that made this different.

  “Now, we’re them.”

  “We don’t have a laser, and we’ve come in for information to save millions of people. We’re trying to save our countries. It’s a little different—”

  “Is it?” He spun over in his spot. There wasn’t much room otherwise. He slipped his knees between hers and rested an arm around her waist and his nose against her forehead. “I believe Clove. I believe that we invaded first with that Super S-Class ship. That makes us just as bad.”