Dragonseers and Airships

by Chris Behrsin

  “How unbecoming of him,” Charth said.” But I can keep my distance. Don’t worry. I’ve crossed the Pallandi Ocean many times before.”

  I took a deep breath. I wasn’t going to stop Charth through threatening him. And, somehow, I believed Captain Colas would act upon his threats if he saw too many of us coming inland.

  “Charth, please,” I said. “If you care about Taka, take seriously what your father said. He’s claimed he’ll kill the boy if he sees any less than three of us on East Cadigan Island. And we can’t put Taka in danger… Please, if not for me, do it for Sukina…”

  And I felt a tear emerge in the corner of my eye.

  Charth hesitated before giving me his response. “You know he’s my father. You’d think he wouldn’t mind me popping in for a visit.”

  “From what you’ve told me, I don’t think he cares.”

  “Probably not,” Charth said and he raised his forelegs for a very brief moment. “Very well, I guess I had better make the best use of my time in the Southlands.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d thought Charth was going to be a lot harder to convince to stay behind. My alternative would have been trying to convince General Sako and the rest of the troops that only Faso, Velos and I would embark on the mission. But I think that would have been even harder to pull off, as I would at least need a personal guard.

  “Charth, perhaps you could make yourself useful and track Alsie. Do you think that would be possible? I know it might be risky, but I don’t trust her and would like to know what she’s up to.”

  Then a sudden thought came to my head which caused me to shudder. All this could be Alsie’s work. If she coerced us to vacate Fortress Gerhaun, then that would leave enough for her to destroy the place while we were away. But no, it didn’t make any sense. Alsie would have destroyed us, anyway, given the number of automatons she’d had at her disposal before. Something else was going on and whatever it was, I had a feeling I wouldn’t like it one bit.

  “Now I can hear your anxious thoughts again,” Charth said. “You better stop it, as you might wake up Gerhaun.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “So, it’s settled then. Faso, Wiggea and I will go and rescue Taka. While you will keep an eye on Alsie, check she’s not up to anything. And please, do whatever you can to wake Gerhaun up if the fortress comes under any danger.”

  “Very well,” Charth said. “I’ll do my best.”

  “Promise me.”

  “Sorry, Dragonseer Wells. I don’t make promises anymore. Not since—”

  His thoughts were cut off by a commotion coming from the back of the courtyard. Two guards rushed out of the double doors there, carrying the projector screen ready for the next briefing.

  I turned my head back to Charth. But, like a fleeting bird, he was already up in the air and, very shortly afterwards, out of sight.

  Everything was happening so fast, I didn’t have much time to say goodbye to my parents, unfortunately. But they did come to Velos’ to see me off. At the time, Admiral Sandao was already preparing his fleet to enter the canal that formed both the north moat of Fortress Gerhaun, as well as a link between the massive Balmano and Phasni rivers. The boats would head west down the the Balmano and then group at river’s mouth into the Pallandi Ocean.

  Meanwhile, the Greys would escort them from air, just in case there were any boats or automatons waiting in ambush on the way, and then enter the dragon carriers at the meeting point. Velos would lead the aerial squad – all two hundred and fifty of them.

  “You’ve got your hipflask,” Papo said to me as we stood next to Velos and his armour.

  “Of course, Papo,” I said. “How many times do you have to ask?” I wanted to be kind of angry with him still for helping Faso install the cannon. But Papo would always be Papo and I’d learned to forgive him quickly about things like this.

  “And Faso,” my father turned to the inventor. “Everything’s powered up and ready to go.”

  “Everything’s in fine condition. We’ll get in there, get the boy and get out again.”

  “Just make sure you look after her,” he said. Then he turned to Wiggea. “And you of course, young man. Neither of you let anything happen to my daughter.”

  Wiggea saluted, which looked a bit silly given my father was a civilian and so wasn’t a superior. “I wouldn’t dream of it, sir.”

  And that caused a smile to stretch across my father’s face. “Then I guess I’m leaving my daughter in the best possible hands.”

  He embraced me in a long and warm hug, and I held it for a moment not wanting to go. But I knew I had a mission ahead of me, and I wouldn’t lose Taka for the world. So eventually I broke off, and I approached my mother who was standing back a little.

  She also embraced me in a hug, much more delicate than my father’s.

  “Pontopa, dear. I know that you need to do this, but your father and I, we can’t help but worry.”

  “I know,” I said. “And I wish that this would be all over. But you know this is something I have to do.”

  “I wish it were different,” she said. “Or at least we could come with you.”

  I shook my head. “It will be safer here, and I’ll be back soon I promise.”

  I pulled myself back from my mother and saw a tear drop out of her reddened eyes. “Just don’t go doing anything reckless,” she said, and she took a handkerchief out of her pocket and wiped the tears away.

  “Aye aye, Maam,” I said, and I saluted then looked back at Wiggea who returned a sheepish smile.

  My mother laughed in response.

  Time, as General Sako had said, was of the essence. So I said farewell again to my parents and then climbed the ladder on Velos’ armour. Faso and Wiggea mounted soon after me, and we put on our gas masks.

  I pulled back on Velos’ steering fin and turned him west. I then sang a dragonsong to instruct the Greys to also launch from their stables. Once they’d joined us, I looked down once more to wave goodbye to my parents, and I kept waving until they were no longer visible through the secicao clouds.

  Part IV

  Admiral Sandao

  “King Cini may have had the best automaton technology, but it didn’t matter. Because we had the best sailors in the world.”

  Admiral Sandao

  10

  The ships that Sandao had selected weren’t the largest in Gerhaun’s fleet. The admiral understood that speed was of the utmost importance. And we needed smaller ships as the Balmano river, whose mouth was at The Southlands west coast, was much narrower than the Phasni river, which opened out at the continent’s east coast. The dragon carriers themselves could only carry fifty dragons each and we’d sent out five of them. Once we got to our destinations, the dragons would enter the carriers through holes leading into the hull, with hatches that could close over their heads. Other than the dragon carriers, we had about a dozen cruisers in the fleet, including the Saye Explorer, and two long-bodied destroyers. We couldn’t take any battleships down the Balmano and so we had to leave them behind.

  The boats travelled in a line down the river, with barely enough berth on either side for manoeuvre. Admittedly, Gerhaun’s fleet didn’t travel that way very often. Most of the naval battles we engaged in were against Cini’s forces, south of the Southern Barrier. And the only way to get there was through the Phasni. Consequently, many of the crew found themselves navigating unchartered waters in the Pallandi Ocean.

  I’d been in the Southlands so long that I’d forgotten how good the world tasted. I guess I’d been so busy training and trying to become an awesome dragonseer, I’d neglected to take Velos out here. The air of the Pallandi Ocean had the saltiness of the sea. There was a light cloud cover and through it came soft rays of light. It felt suddenly good to have sun on my skin again, and I found myself missing home. But our house and my external cottage in the Five Hamlets had been burned down by King Cini III and we wouldn’t be going back there.

  One thing that I knew were great
hazards on this ocean were its superstorms. Merchant traders that transported coal from the Cadigan continent to Fortress Gerhaun had told me many times how they just came out of nowhere and could swallow up even the largest trawlers. The worst thing was that they approached at such a speed you didn’t see them coming. The merchant captains claimed that maritime records showed no evidence of these one-hundred or so years ago and called them one of this world’s biggest mysteries. I just hoped we wouldn’t encounter one ourselves.

  Fortunately, the land in the Southlands was mostly flat, and the Balmano’s waters lacked rapids. Which meant we made it into the Pallandi Ocean pretty quickly. And not long after, we were out of the secicao clouds, and we could remove our masks and once again breathe fresh air. I sang a song to instruct the dragons to take shelter in the dragon carriers. They would need to be well rested once we got to East Cadigan Island, just in case a battle was waiting for us there.

  Our destination was Paradise Reef, a stretch of water loved by merchant fishing fleets for its parrotfish and other tropical seafood. Admittedly, the dragon carriers wouldn’t be able to get any further than that, although they could send out patrol boats if they needed to deploy any troops inland. And, of course, each of Sandao’s carriers were equipped with them. Six, in fact.

  Once the dragons had entered the carriers, I took Velos down to land on the Saye Explorer, the fleet’s flagship. This was a medium-sized frigate, with a spacious enough quarterdeck to house Velos. For now, he could stay there while I supervised operations together with General Sako and Admiral Sandao. In other words, sitting back in a deck chair and enjoying the sun against my skin.

  We had been sailing for quite a few hours when I spotted the clouds looming ahead. A tropical storm swirling slowly in the distance, its eye pulling a visible spray out of the water. It was approaching fast.

  The hairs on my arm began to stand on end. I was sitting in a deck chair at the time, reading a novel. Velos lay on the grooved surface next to me, hot air buffeting against my skin as he snored softly. Much of the crew was below deck, including Faso who claimed he needed to make some modifications to Ratter to prepare the automaton for humid jungle conditions.

  Soon enough, the cabin doors opened below, and officers and sailors flooded out of it. They flurried into action, pointing out at the storm, shouting orders, running around ensuring all equipment was properly sealed, pulling up the patrol boats on deck with huge winches, grabbing supplies and ponchos from storage in the hull.

  Admiral Sandao came rushing out after them and climbed the ladder up to the quarterdeck. “It’s a superstorm,” he said to me. “It came out of nowhere. You’ll need to take cover. Kraken’s going to hit us fast and strong.”

  I raised an eyebrow. “Kraken?”

  “That’s what our meteorologists have called this storm.” He scratched at his beard. “It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before.”

  “But Velos?” It would be one of the biggest blunders in military history if we lost one of our most valuable dragons to a hurricane. “I can’t leave him out here alone.”

  Sandao pointed at the approaching storm. “We’ll hit it in four minutes. Five if we’re lucky. Velos needs to take shelter in a dragon carrier. You need to get moving.”

  I shook my head. “Can’t we just fly around it? If we use Faso’s armour, maybe we can get away from it fast enough.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.” Faso came running out from the cabin behind. “I built the armour to fight battles, not hurricanes. Pontopa, I know you’re not a woman of science, but this is one of your worst bloopers yet.”

  “I said fly around it… Not through it.”

  “Do you know how large a hurricane is, Pontopa? We’re not talking a mere twister here, but a storm the size of several large cities.”

  I blushed. I didn’t like being talked down to by Faso, but this time, I guess he was right. One of the dragon carriers had levelled up besides us. Admiral Sandao gestured over to it. “If I were you, I’d get Velos under deck,” he said. “Rest assured you have the best sailors in the world. We’ll get through this, Dragonseer Wells. Just get safe and let my men do their job.”

  I nodded and turned to Velos who now had lifted his head to gaze out at the storm. I’m guessing he’d never seen anything like it before, but then neither had I. A huge gust of wind came, and I had to grab the railing to keep myself on deck. The first drops of rain started to patter on the deck and splash on my skin. From behind, General Sako came barrelling out of the door to the quarterdeck cabin, Lieutenant Wiggea and Lieutenant Candiorno following in his wake.

  “Blunders and dragonheats!” General Sako said. “What are you still doing up here, Dragonseer Wells? Wiggea, get her below deck immediately.”

  I put my hands on my hips. “We need to protect Velos.”

  “Then get him in a carrier. That armour won’t protect him from a bloody hurricane.”

  I nodded and then turned to Wiggea. I honestly, couldn’t think of anyone else I’d rather be stuck in a stuffy dragon carrier with during a storm, Velos excepting. “Wiggea, you can come with me. I’ll need a personal guard in case anything…” I swallowed. “Anything happens.”

  “And what about me?” Faso said. “You’re going to desert me here?”

  I smiled. “You really want to be stuck in a confined dragon carrier stable, Faso?”

  “No, I want to be on the bridge here studying the storm. I might learn something. As long as I can do it from somewhere safe.” He glanced at the pocket watch hanging from his suit pocket. Ratter poked his head out of his sleeve and ran up onto his shoulder. The automaton turned to sniff in the direction of the storm and arched his back. He let out a hiss and scurried back inside its hiding hole in Faso’s sleeve.

  “Oh, you’ll be fine here, Faso,” I said. “Go find Asinal Winda and keep her company. She’ll need a strong man to look after her, you know. It’s going to be a scary time.” I was teasing, of course. Faso would be showing much more fear once the storm hit than Winda, I was sure.

  “Fine,” Faso said. “But she can come up to the bridge to help with my studies. I’ll need an extra eye to record all the data and make sure the meteorological equipment is working.”

  “Break a leg,” I said. Another huge gust of wind came off from the ocean, bringing a soaking spray of water with it. I braced myself against it, trying to breathe. “Come on Lieutenant, let’s hop on.”

  “Right on it, Maam,” he said and saluted. Honestly, he was such a handsome man with those soft hazel eyes and hard-edged face. Often, I wondered if I anything could happen between us. But he was all about duty and would always think of me as his superior. Yet, a woman could dream.

  Velos had hunched up into a ball. So, I walked around him and patted his back to instruct him to stand up straight. He raised his back, stretched his legs, turned his head in the direction of the storm and let out a roar, causing Wiggea and I to cover our ears. I grimaced and then let out a soft dragonsong to calm him.

  “It will be okay,” I said. “We’ll be safe in the carrier. Men and dragons have been through a lot worse.”

  Velos lowered his head to me and I stroked him around his scaly mane. He let out a whimper, but this quickly turned into a much more reassuring croon.

  The dragon turned his tail towards me. I ran up it and clambered over the two back seats before I took my position behind his steering fin. Wiggea looked up at me from the deck, saluted, and then climbed up the ladder and took position on the back seat. I buckled the harness and I turned back to Wiggea and smiled, then I pulled back on Velos’ steering fin to launch him into the sky.

  The wind was picking up now, and the storm approaching faster than any storm I’d ever known. Already, the hatches had closed on the dragon carrier ahead of us.

  With every minute, the clouds looked even more menacing. They now were grey and cumulus overhead, swirling in abstract patterns. Velos didn’t have to get far into the sky until we could feel its pull, the so-
called Kraken trying to drag us into its eye, all the while roaring thunder into the main. It was hard to get Velos to fly straight, and I could feel his anxiety in my own chest as he beat his wings hard to keep us aloft.

  I took my hip flask from my belt and took a swig from it as I guessed I might need the extra agility. The world turned green, and I could now see lightning striking within the mushrooming clouds. I turned back to Wiggea. “Lieutenant. Do you think you can operate the armour?” I called over the wind.

  “What’s that, Maam?” he bawled, and he cupped his hand over his ear and turned it towards me.

  “The armour?” I pointed to the spigot and controls that Faso usually manned from the back seat. “Could you?”

  Wiggea looked down at it and shrugged. “Haven’t a clue, Maam.”

  “Never mind,” I shouted. And I turned back to the weather, the wind whipping my hair every which way that it slashed like wild snakes against my face. I pushed down on Velos’ steering fin, steering him away from a huge wave coming up at us from the ocean. The carrier was difficult enough to see, the sky was so grey. But I hazarded a glance over my shoulder and couldn’t even see the Saye Explorer now through the murk. I’d never in my life known a storm to move so fast.

  In front, the dragon carrier was being tossed up upon the waves. A stout woman stood on the wide platform, suitable for landing ten dragons at a time, and she beckoned us in.

  “Hold on to your handlebar Wiggea,” I called back. And I gritted my teeth and held my breath against the wind. The storm was throwing us around in a seesaw fashion, making me feel seasick enough that I couldn’t imagine what it was going to be like on the boat. The platform slanted to the side at a sharp angle and the woman there went tumbling down it, stopping herself just in time by grabbing onto a pipe that jutted out from the superstructure. If it hadn’t been there, she would have been swallowed whole by the sea, never to be seen again.