by Ryan Muree
“Scuff—”
“No, you can’t. You can’t because it’s bigger than all of us, and the best you can do is carve out a path for yourself and leave the rest be.”
Emeryss felt those words in her chest, recalling old beliefs. She’d said those words when she was trying to learn how to cast. She’d eventually learned, but not without losing a piece of her, too, and that’s what he’d meant. He didn’t want Clove sacrificing herself for this.
“Sacrifices will have to be made,” Emeryss said. “That’s life. But we can do what we can, we can get help, and stop this to save others.”
Clove nodded. “That’s why we came to you. We need your help first. That’s all I’m asking. I’m not asking you to shoot or fight or build anything. I just want your thoughts about an airship the UA has built.”
The light in Scuffle’s eyes sparkled. “An airship?”
“A big one. The biggest anyone has ever seen.”
After a brief pause, Scuffle looked over at Lana and then back to Clove. “You serious? And you want to take it down?”
“I want to try.”
Without another word, Scuffle turned toward his house. Lana half-smiled at them and followed behind him.
“Well?” Jahree whispered to Clove.
“Are you coming, or are you going to keep watching the aptericks shit?” Scuffle called back.
They hustled along, following him inside a wooden house of mismatched planks. Some were thin, some thick. The door had been cracked down the middle but was somehow still together and hanging on its hinges. It opened with a creak.
Inside the dust and small clumps of dead grass had collected in the corners of the rickety wooden floors. Some daylight was still visible through those mismatched walls, and the ceiling was high enough to accommodate a loft area at the top. The bottom floor had an old wooden stove like Emeryss’s back home and a wooden table with pieced-together chairs. Except her table was much longer to have room for her and all her siblings.
Scuffle made his way to the stove, dropped a kettle on it, and turned the fire on with a knob. “So, where are these blueprints for this big ass ship?”
“We don’t have blueprints,” Clove said. “But I went inside. I can draw the layout.” She turned to Lana and signed a request for paper and something to write with.
Lana agreed and brought her a pencil and an old brown wrapping from a chunk of meat that had been butchered. The blood stains were still on one side.
“Are you still living in Boltknock?” Clove asked her.
“Yes,” Lana signed, “but I came to visit dad for a couple of weeks and help around the ranch. He’s getting too old to do it all himself, and he won’t come live with us.” Lana’s hands moved so quickly, it took a second to gather everything she’d said.
Clove turned the paper over and began sketching the outline of the airship.
“What class is this?” Scuffle asked, passively glancing at the paper as he took his boots off.
“They’re calling it X-Class,” Mack answered.
“Hey.” Scuffle looked at him. “Did I catch you messing with Cayn in the barn years ago?”
Mack straightened. “No, sir.”
“Scuffle, focus,” Clove said. “It’s enormous. It’s like three Super S-Class ships in one. It has three dashboards—”
“Three?” He scoffed. “That’s ridiculous.”
“They’re housed in the center, like this.” She drew them out and circled them on the paper.
He reached over and took the pencil from her, sketching over hers. “Are there arms like this in the side corridors?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Easy.”
Easy? It was easy? Emeryss turned to Grier.
“What’s easy?” Jahree asked.
“If the ship is as large as you claim it is, each dashboard is connected to a part of the ship.”
“What does that mean?” Grier asked.
“It means, they have to sync them all up at the same time to get the ship to function right.” Scuffle continued sketching lines length-wise down the ship. “That ship does something crazy, and it needs to be done at the same time.”
“What are those lines?” Jahree asked.
Scuffle stopped and eyed him.
“I trust him, Scuff. Come on,” Clove urged.
“Fuel lines to the dashboards,” Scuffle finally said. “The tanks will be somewhere over here in the lower section or the load would be too heavy.”
Maybe Clove wouldn’t have to do anything. “We can cut the lines, then?” Emeryss asked.
“The diameter of the tubing,” Scuffle continued, “would have to be larger because they need more volume pushing through to get the ship going. A fuel line for something like that is easily a foot wide.”
Emeryss’s hope fell. Too wide to cut.
“But I’d figure there are small off-shoots running to the dashboards,” Scuffle said rubbing his chin and admiring his schematic.
“Can we cut those?” Grier asked. “Is that possible?”
Clove shook her head. “No, I wouldn’t think so. You’d need to get the engines and tanks out in order to even reach it from inside. If you wanted to reach it from the outside, then you’re talking through plated, very-well insulated wall.”
Scuffle nodded in agreement.
Mykel could make something to get through it, but Vaughn would have to be there to enlarge it. Adalai could Blink inside, but she’d need to see where she was going to do it.
Emeryss rubbed her head. This was getting too complicated, and it looked like there was no way out but using Clove as a Scribe.
“I reckon you don’t have a lot of time to solve this?”
Clove took a deep breath. “There are sigils on the dashboard—”
“That’s new,” he huffed.
“So,” Clove continued, “Emeryss was a Scribe, and she’s going to train me on how to change the sigils in the dashboards.”
Lana’s face lit up and smiled wide at her. Emeryss smiled back to be polite but wasn’t sure why her being a Scribe excited her.
“Lana wanted to be a Scribe when we were kids,” Clove explained. Lana nodded and signed to Clove for her to translate. “She would love to pick your brain. She’d invented all sorts of ether she could imagine, like stink bombs and giant golem things.”
Emeryss smiled at her. “Sure. I’d love to answer anything.”
“Are you sure?” Mack asked, eyes scrutinizing her. “Isn’t that going against Stadhold’s treaty?”
Emeryss shrugged a shoulder. “You’ve broken it first.”
“What are these sigils about, now?” Scuffle said. “These are real sigils?”
Clove took a deep breath. “The UA has figured out how to use the grimoires from Stadhold. They’re able to extract the sigils and use it in their equipment.”
Scuffle grunted and grumbled to himself.
“The sigil they have now is Teleport,” Emeryss said. “They want to teleport the ship right into Revel.”
“With that laser from Fort Damned?” Scuffle asked.
“We don’t know,” Clove said. “But when I got into the dashboard, they were loaded with weapons of some sort.”
Scuffle whistled and rubbed his face a few times. The kettle started whistling, and he jumped up, retrieved a tin can with dried green flakes in it, and sprinkled some into the kettle. He shook his head. “This is bad, Clove. Ingini are going to bring all of Revel on us.”
“That’s the point of why we’re doing this.”
“We talked about changing the sigil to something else,” Jahree said. “Is it possible to just… change the coordinates?”
Grier crossed his arms. “You mean, teleport them somewhere else?”
Jahree nodded.
“I think they’ll just fix it, right?” Clove looked to Scuffle.
“Nine times out of ten, they’ll put an Ingineer on that ship, and if they’ve figured out this much, then I think they’ll get t
he ship in the right place eventually.” Scuffle sipped a steaming mug of his drink. He didn’t offer any to anyone else, and no one asked.
But there were three dashboards connecting to the three parts of the ship. What if they sent it to three different places?
“What would happen if you put different coordinates on the different dashboards?” Emeryss asked. “Would it get confused and fall out of the sky?”
Scuffle clicked his tongue. “Well, I’d bet one part of the ship would go this way, another that way. It’d split into pieces.”
They all looked at one another.
“That’s how we do it,” Clove whispered. “I’ll change the coordinates on all three dashboards and send the three pieces of the ship to different places. It’ll destroy it, and they can’t fix it in time to get to Revel.”
“The pieces will come crashing down,” Mack said. “The people on board would die, not to mention the people underneath the ship’s pieces as they fall.”
Lana began signing, and Scuffle nodded.
“She said we could coordinate them to go to open places like the sea or the plains,” Clove translated. “Honestly, they don’t even have to be that far apart. Just far enough to break the airship.”
Grier nodded. “That’s still putting the lives of the crew in danger. Are you okay with that?”
Scuffle sighed and sat at his own table, digging the pencil into the paper.
“Everyone has to make some sacrifices,” Clove said, “and the UA are already more than willing to fly right into the enemy already.”
Emeryss shared a weathered look with Jahree. She’d meant they were already willing to die, but that wasn’t true. Emeryss looked at Grier. When someone’s been convinced they’re doing something to help their country, to save their people, they’d give up anything and everything to do it. They’d be willing to die, but not wanting it.
Not to mention, they’d flown into the enemy territory? themselves. How willing were they to die for this?
“Okay,” Grier said. “So, we know what we have to do.”
Emeryss looked to Clove. “You ready to learn how to Scribe?”
Chapter 29
Barren Ranch — Ingini
Sweat beaded and dripped down Grier’s neck.
The late afternoon sun was bold and bright as he readied one hand on the reins of a bright-orange apterick and the other in its feathers.
Eye to eye, they were the same height, but he had to at least be able to pull himself onto its back to ride it.
At least it’d stopped running from him.
“Easy, little guy—”
“That one’s a girl, and she’s not little,” Scuffle shouted to him by the fence. He chuckled to himself. “Foot in the stirrup and hop on.”
Mack looked on, arms crossed and back against the fence, as Grier failed multiple times to climb onto the apterick.
If Jahree hadn’t been back watching Kimpert and checking Pigyll, he could probably lift him up and set him on top of the apterick for him. Would have made things a lot easier.
“Want me to get Clove to show you how it’s done?” Scuffle taunted. “She’s a head shorter than you and can easily hop on.”
Grier adjusted his grip and put his foot in the stirrup. “It’s okay, girl. I just want to get on…”
He hoisted himself up easily, drew up his leg to go up and over, and then lost his grip and balance until he tumbled onto his backside.
He grunted as he hit the grass.
The apterick bent over and nuzzled his damp hair, trying to lick his cheek.
“I’m glad you like me, but can I please just get on you?” Grier swatted the giant bird away from his face and stood.
“You’re terrible,” Mack chided behind him. “Is this any indication of how well you Keepers fight?”
Grier put his hands on his hips and looked back over his shoulder. “Want to find out?”
He’d already regretted saying it. He wasn’t one to show off, he’d never needed to. His skill was a necessity, not something he flaunted at will to impress or prove anything. But now, when he was fed up with getting knocked back on his ass for something so stupid, showing Mack how well he could fight sounded pretty good.
It wasn’t worth it.
He looked around. Several aptericks in shades of gold, blue, and orange grazed beside him. The mountains behind Scuffle’s house were in the shadow of evening clouds, and Clove and Emeryss were still practicing in the field just off the barn, while Lana looked on.
It was probably the most peaceful, relatable part of Ingini he’d seen yet.
“You Revelians are all the same,” Mack taunted.
Grier rolled his neck.
“Talk big, but when it comes to actual effort and working for something, you want the easy way out,” he continued.
Grier slowly turned to face him. “First, I’m not Revelian.”
“Is there a difference?” Mack approached with a smug grin.
“Yes. And second, I never want the easy way out. I’d venture you don’t know much about us, but like thinking you do.”
Mack crossed his arms. “I know plenty. For one, you can’t ride an apterick to save your life.”
“Yeah?” Grier grinned. “Anything else you know about us?”
“You’re the dogs of the Revelians. They give you orders, and follow them—”
“I seem to remember a laser going off, killing Ingini and Revelians alike. Guess the UA take orders blindly, too.”
“You may be fighting machines, but you’re nothing compared to our weapons and our forces.”
“Again, that’s not exactly how Marana went down. Seems I also remember killing quite a few Ingini with their tech.”
Mack stepped closer. “And I seem to remember hearing about a laser that decimated a city—”
“—that Emeryss stopped with a shield.”
“Keepers fight in the same battles as the RCA. They slaughter UA—”
“Just like the UA slaughter RCA.” Grier shook his head. “Mack, that’s the point. Don’t you want this to end? Don’t you want Clove and Cayn and your brother safe?”
“No one should be delighting in deaths, least of all you, Mack,” Scuffle grunted from his post.
“So, now you’re on his side?” Mack asked.
Scuffle spit. “Never. I’m on no one’s side. I’m on my side, and my side wants to live in peace, but you idiots keep showing up and ruining things…” He mumbled to himself something about Mack screwing with Cayn before walking off.
Mack smiled. “I didn’t screw Cayn. He’d caught me with Clove in that barn, but he’s so damn old, he can’t remember.”
Grier took a deep breath. Diplomacy. Honesty. That’s what this would take. “I’m not a Caster, Mack. I can’t summon whatever I want. I’m a soldier. There is no easy way out for me.”
“Killing others seems like an easy way out.”
“Is it? I have to live with those spirits I killed.” Grier turned back to the orange apterick and smoothed down some of its feathers. “Emeryss does, too. Adalai, Jahree, the rest of the Zephyrs. You hate us. I get it. We hate you, sorta. I still hate a lot of you, but I don’t think we’re really seeing everything the way we should. Enough is enough.”
Mack walked around the other side of the bird and stared at him. “What does that mean? Enough is enough?”
“Look at what Clove is trying to achieve. She’s going to be your country’s first trained Scribe—”
“And you’re using her to kill our people.”
“To save your people in the long run.”
Mack rolled his eyes. “You’re unbelievably cocky. You saw our equipment. We could decimate Revel in seconds.”
“And to what end? What would you gain from it? More fighting? More struggle? More poverty?” Grier pointed in Clove and Emeryss’s direction. “Look at Emeryss. She was a Scribe and now she’s this completely new Caster and doesn’t need grimoires. The Goliath is unprecedented. All of it prove
s that the laws and the rules of ether can change. Can’t you see the promise and future in that? Can’t you see what that would mean for your country? For mine? For Revel? It changes everything if we just stop aiming it at each other.”
Mack adjusted the saddle on the apterick by sliding it a little farther up its back. “For the better?”
Grier took a deep breath. “I think that’s up to us. I think we have to decide if it’s for the better. I want to serve on the High Council—”
Mack huffed.
“I want to work with Ingini. I’m here, doing it, ignoring my responsibilities back home and my summons to return immediately to find out what happened with those grimoires. Now, I’m trying to help stop the war. We’re not all bad. We’re not all trying to slaughter all of Ingini. There are good people in Revel and Stadhold, just like there are good in Ingini.”
Mack’s focus turned to the feathers on the apterick. “Revel has always turned its back on us. They’ve always lied and cheated to keep their control.”
Grier nodded. “We have to make first steps though. It has to start somewhere.”
“You did.” Mack’s glare shot up. “You’ve made us aware. I don’t see how using Clove—”
“She wants to help. She wants to be part of this. Trust me, stand aside and let her do what she has to do for herself,” Grier warned. He’d been down that path before and nearly lost everything.
“I’m not worried about what she wants,” Mack said. “I’m worried about what you all want.”
“We’re doing the best we can with what we have. We’re not done here. We have to go back and face our own leaders, our own families, our own fights.”
“And if you fail? If this fails?” Mack glared at him.
“We keep trying.”
Mack leaned in. “If this gets Clove killed, I’ll kill—”
Grier raised his hands. “I get it. Completely. You don’t have to tell me, but I do need to warn you that none of us are looking to die anytime soon, and we’re quite skilled in staying alive. Remember that. But Jahree, Emeryss, and I also wouldn’t risk someone’s life if we didn’t think they could do it.”
Mack swallowed and nodded toward the bird between them. “Grab her feathers at the back of her neck to hoist yourself up, not down there.”