Dragonseers and Airships

by Chris Behrsin

  “No, you don’t understand. If we get caught within the ash cloud, we’re doomed. Not only will it tear at your lungs and cause permanent damage and dragonheats knows what else to Taka. Ash clouds fresh out of a volcano contains millions of shards of microscopic glass, not to mention massive amounts of superheated pumice. It will tear us and the airship balloon to pieces.”

  “Dragonheats,” I said. “Then we need to fly west to Cadigan mainland. Alsie is waiting in ambush to the east.”

  “The wind’s going west. We’ll be drowned by the ash. Quick, Pontopa, before it’s too late.”

  I heard a rumble from below and I rushed to the edge of the deck indeed to see the lava boiling and seeping up out of the crater below. Some incredibly dark smoke puffed out of the top. “Dragonheats,” I said. And not just because I could see the black cloud starting to form. I also felt another presence shimmering in the collective unconscious.

  The storm clouds had now shifted away from the volcano. They created a wall of grey on the eastern horizon, and from it, a black dragon emerged – a tiny speck on the horizon, but I knew who it was…

  Alsie Fioreletta had come to greet me once again.

  21

  “Alsie,” I said through clenched teeth as I stood on the airship deck, with Velos hovering beside it, and watched her approach. Behind her, a line of airships pushed out of the clouds, accompanied by swarms of green Hummingbird automatons. I didn’t stand a chance… Maybe if I transformed into the form Finesia wanted me to, then I could fight Alsie. I could claim my prize and destroy her in aerial combat. I could avenge Sukina and punish the dragonwoman for every crime she’d committed to this age.

  “Join me, Dragonseer,” Finesia said. “It’s time to claim your destiny.”

  No. I pushed the empress’ voice away again. I wasn’t going to taint my soul by tapping into these new powers. I wasn’t going to risk losing myself in the darkness.

  “Taka,” I shouted. “Get on Velos, now.”

  Faso looked at me, astonished. “What are you planning, Pontopa? We need to surrender. There’s nowhere we can run.”

  I looked down at the enveloping ash cloud rising from the crater. The volcano had begun to erupt, and it would spew out more of this stuff I was sure.

  “We need to go through that,” I said. And I followed Taka in a sprint towards Velos. The boy jumped at the seat with unbecoming agility and Faso’s face twisted in alarm as he reached out to catch Taka. But he didn’t have to because Taka grasped a ridge between two of Velos’ armour plates like a monkey and then scrambled up to his place.

  I launched myself forward as well, this time catching myself by hugging the seat that Taka had already strapped himself into. I clambered towards the front of the dragon, harnessed myself in and took hold of the spare gasmask I’d left in the compartment beneath. I had a feeling that the bit-and-plug wouldn’t be enough, particularly if we had to fly through volcanic ash.

  “Pontopa, we need to turn away from the ash,” Faso said. “If you think shrapnel flak is bad, you haven’t seen anything like this.”

  I didn’t listen to him. Instead, I pushed down on Velos’ steering fin to send him downwards through the cloud that had just started to spew up out of the volcano like a mushroom, with streaks of red lightning flaring within. Velos let off a growl – he didn’t want to go through either. But I felt that we had a much better chance of surviving this than Alsie Fioreletta. Up above us, Charth had already launched himself into the sky and I saw the gigantic airship balloon straining as if it wanted to burst under the pressure of the rising heat. Soon, it would get ripped to shreds by the rising ash and pumice, and the gondola would come plummeting down.

  Charth wheeled around once in the air, and then he sped towards Alsie and her forces. “Find a way inland,” he said. “Towards Cadigan. I’ll hold them off as long as I could.”

  But really, Alsie wasn’t going to send Cini’s airships through the ash. That would be the stupidest thing in the world.

  I checked behind me to ensure that Taka and Faso had their masks on, and then I entered Velos into a stall. I planned to pass so quickly through the ash cloud that it wouldn’t be able to affect us.

  And so, the wind tore against my face, tugged my hair back, almost out of its roots, and I screamed out in ecstasy. Yes, this was the joy of flying. Meanwhile, bits and pieces in the cloud scratched at my face, yet it couldn’t tear the now hardened skin. I turned around to see Faso’s eyes closed and his face scrunched up behind his gas mask as if expecting the worst. Taka, though, seemed to be rather enjoying himself and, like me, he was screaming in glee. He’d make a fine dragonseer yet.

  We soon reached the bottom of the cloud and I levelled Velos out by pulling back on his steering fin to slow him a little. He spread out his wings and angled them backwards to help break the stall. Beneath us, streams of lava flowed down the mountain, and into the jungle below. The leaves had already browned and were curling up in the heat. I imagined the tribesmen on the ground would be huddling into corners away from the molten rock that would soon wash over them. Whole tribes destroyed by one madman and the will of a goddess.

  And what had even happened to the elders?

  A tinge of sorrow washed over me as I thought about their fate. They were meant to tell me more about my heritage, as well as Faso’s and Taka’s. Another opportunity lost to the void.

  But I didn’t have time to think about this now. Taka’s future and the future of the dragons remained at stake. I decided not to take Velos down into the jungle but along the side of the volcano. Down there, it was probably a raging inferno, the heat of the lava trapped between the trees. So, I kept Velos as high as we could without entering the growing ceiling of black cloud and flashing red lightning above us. The whole land had now plummeted into such intense shadow that if it weren’t for the glow of the lava, it would be difficult to see anything at all. Meanwhile, the volcano roared behind, and it took some skilful flying to keep Velos on course.

  Suddenly, a landslide stopped us in our tracks – a layer of pyroclastic flow tumbling down the mountain.

  “Pontopa not that way,” Faso shouted out. “We’ll be eaten alive.”

  But I didn’t need to be told that this raging eddy of grey dust was dangerous. I pushed hard on Velos’ steering fin and veered him down the slope away from the rim of the volcano. We missed the expanding pyroclastic flow by inches, and we had no choice but to enter the jungle below.

  “Hold on to your seatbelts,” I called. It was going to be a rough ride.

  Velos folded in his wings as much as possible, and we ducked and pushed beneath the canopy. I’d hoped that we could get away from the pyroclastic flow, but it raced alongside us, covering the jungle in grey soot that might later preserve its remains for centuries.

  Velos twisted and turned his body as we spun through the trees and I put my entire concentration in stopping us crashing into a bole. I sang a song to keep Velos steady and at the same time the armour pulsed green beneath my feet. Velos scratched his wings against the trees a few times, and I felt his pain lancing through my own arms. But the feeling wasn’t as intense as it had been in the past. Was I losing my connection to him? Would the transformation lead me further and further away?

  As we sped through the jungle, the earth opened up beneath us. A great chasm tore the ground asunder and columns of lava shot up into the air through fresh thermal vents. I had to steer Velos away from one raging fountain, and I felt the heat from it pluck at my skin.

  I don’t know how many smouldering trees we passed as their leaves wilted under the rising heat. I wanted to follow Charth’s instructions and lead us inland. But the pyroclastic flow ran right the way to the coast then buried itself under the sea. There was no way through.

  So, our only option was to head back to the ocean where the airships lay in wait. As we left the land behind, we could see the balloons spanning the horizon, as far as the eye could see. Alsie flew close to them, Charth hovering nearby. I
felt a sudden dread rise up in my chest as soon as I saw them. Why weren’t they in combat? Something didn’t make sense.

  “What do you want?” I said to Alsie in the collective unconscious. “You promised that you’d leave us alone.”

  “That, I did,” Alsie said. “While you went in and successfully rescued the boy and, with Colas’ aid, helped us execute Finesia’s plan.”

  I kept the channel closed to Taka so he couldn’t hear any of this, but who knows what Alsie was also saying to Taka in his own mind. Whatever it was, Taka didn’t seem to want to listen, and he backed up in his seat as if wanting to get as far away from her as possible.

  “Oh,” Alsie continued. “And I can see you finally completed your transformation. Which means that we’re edging closer to our final battle, Dragonseer, or should I call you Acolyte?”

  “No,” I said. “I shall not bend to Finesia’s will.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Alsie said, and there came an ear-splitting scream in the collective unconscious. Velos bucked underneath the pain and I clutched my hands to my ears, as did Taka.

  Now, I had access to the innate ability, I was tempted to return the scream in kind, but that would be using Finesia’s gifts and opening up a place for her.

  It was then that it dawned on me. Charth had used the same scream to protect us in the secicao jungle from the pirate leader and his troop of automatons. That would have pushed him even further towards Finesia. How long would he last before he lost his mind completely? He already thought he was on the edge. Somehow, I doubted I could trust him anymore.

  “All your tricks in the world cannot hurt me, Alsie Fioreletta,” I said.

  “Ah, but you have no choice but to surrender. You have no dragons around you to protect you, you’re surrounded by a fleet of the king’s best forces.”

  “Then you’ll have to kill me too.”

  “Oh, you shan’t die yet, Dragonseer. Finesia has many plans for you, and you don’t even appreciate the abilities you’ve gained. Why don’t you show us all what you’re capable of and use Finesia’s abilities to take down this fleet?”

  “I’ll do it without her,” I said. I could at least try and escape without having to battle Alsie head-on. “Charth, are you on my side or Alsie’s?”

  “Yours, of course,” Charth said. But there seemed a lack of commitment in those words. As if Charth hadn’t quite connected to the question.

  Whatever, I didn’t have time to worry about that now. I pulled back on Velos’ steering fin and sang a dragonsong. In response, Velos let out a huge roar. He also didn’t want to go down without a fight. And we flew towards the airships, as the Hummingbirds pushed forward to intercept us head-on.

  “Pontopa, this is madness,” Faso complained from behind me. He had his arms folded across his chest. “But no matter what I say, I’ll never stop you. Why I always choose to travel with such an insane woman, I don’t know.”

  I shook my head. “It’s your choice, Faso.”

  “Alsie Fioreletta,” I then said in the collective unconscious. “We will not go down without a fight.”

  “Then you have consigned yourself to your own fate,” Alsie said. She let out a huge roar.

  “Acolyte, it’s time to claim your power,” Finesia’s voice once again came in my head. “Change to your true form and claim the prize you deserve.”

  I tightened my grip around Velos’ steering fin as I tracked the swarm of Hummingbirds approaching. A cloud of green enveloped them, meaning they were secicao-powered. But this time, Faso didn’t complain that they’d stolen his technology. Probably because he now knew that what Colas had built was much more superior.

  “Auntie, I can use my scream again to take them down,” Taka said. He’d done that two years ago when we’d encountered them at the Southern Barrier, just after escaping Cini’s palace.

  “No,” I said. “Don’t listen to what Finesia wants you to do, Taka, we’ll find a way through without her.”

  And the Hummingbirds got so close to us that they almost engulfed us. The Gatling guns activated on Velos’ armour and shot a few out of the sky, but the rest of them were fast enough to dodge the bullets.

  “Very well, I can see you’re not ready yet,” Alsie said. “Such a waste of resources. Well, Charth, it’s time to finally become a servant of Finesia.”

  “Yes,” he replied in an incredibly flat and distant tone.

  He turned around towards the Hummingbirds, and out pitched that horrible screeching sound again in the collective unconscious, this time sending my head spinning so hard I wanted to throw up. One time had been bad enough, but twice in one row was enough to turn the brain to mush.

  The Hummingbirds had only travelled several hundred metres before they sputtered to inaction and dropped one by one into the water like a flock of seagulls that had just inhaled a noxious gas.

  “Charth,” I said in the collective unconscious, but I just spoke to emptiness. This time, the scream had disrupted my ability to communicate there and it would be a while until it returned.

  “Even when you can’t reach the collective unconscious, you can still talk to me,” Finesia said. “Transform, and I’ll give you the power you want.”

  And, as I looked at the wall of airships edging even closer to us, I felt for a moment that we wouldn’t have a choice. Then, I remembered how we’d escaped Cini’s forces last time we’d encountered them in the ocean. A wall of shrapnel-flak in the air that would tear us apart if we flew through had blocked our escape. So instead, we dived beneath a battleship’s hull and only barely made it out the other side. Hence, I appraised the churning sea and the vast waves that it sent up beneath us.

  “Faso,” I called back. “How much secicao do we have left in the armour.”

  “We’ve almost used it all up for dragonheats sake. We left the tap open when Velos was sitting there in the jungle by itself. But Pontopa, if you’re thinking of going under, think again. The currents down there will swallow us whole.”

  Okay, so maybe going under was a bad idea.

  There came another roar from the distance as we hovered over the ocean. Alsie Fioreletta sped towards Charth and I was half expecting him to raise his claws and try to take her down. But, instead of attacking the dragonman, the dragonwoman flew in a wide circle around him. “Acolyte Charth,” she said. “Embrace your destiny.”

  Charth lifted his head to the sky and roared, meanwhile wrestling with himself in mid-air as if exerting his very last ounce of will to resist something. But it was futile. All of a sudden, his body went stiff, and he curled up in a ball and began to fall towards the ocean, tumbling in the sky.

  “Goodbye, noble Charth,” Alsie said.

  I watched in horror, expecting Charth to hit the sea and be swallowed up by the waves. But before he was even close, he spread out his wings and hovered there, as if pinned in place at the shoulders. Out of his chest emanated a ball of green light, streaks of white lightning flashing out to the circumference, much like the glowing sphere that Colas’ panther had used to knock Velos out of the sky.

  “And hello, servant of Finesia,” Alsie continued. “You see, Dragonseer Wells, Charth was right. For only so long will you be able to resist Finesia’s will. And Charth, my darling, did you really think that you could remain a traitor to Finesia’s cause forever?”

  Charth tossed and turned in the invisible harness that had pinned him into place in the air. He gnashed and roared at the space around him but, as he did, the glowing ball grew, spreading a faint green oily light through the veins of his body.

  I’d never seen anything like it. I mean, there were dragonsongs, which kind of made sense in a way and had their own rules to them. And the collective unconscious also had its own innate rules, and everything about it seemed to intuitively fit together, even if it hadn’t yet been explained by science. But I had absolutely no idea where this ball was sucking its energy from. Indeed, I could only describe it as magic.

  And as the ball of ener
gy grew, Charth seemed to resist less and less, until eventually he just floated in the air, stock still.

  “What are you doing to him, Alsie?” I said. “Let him go…”

  “This isn’t my doing,” Alsie replied, “but Finesia’s. Now, if you please, I’m quite enjoying the show. You can either comply or try to fly away and have your dragon shocked to death by Hummingbirds. The man you once knew as Charth is dead to you now.”

  “He died long ago when he lost Sukina,” I thought. But I didn’t share that sentiment with Alsie.

  “Nothing to say?” Alsie asked. “Well, I never. Why don’t you turn dragon yourself and fight Charth Lamford? He’d be a worthy adversary for you, I’m sure.”

  Dragonheats, Alsie had only sent that line of Hummingbirds forwards so Charth would use his ability. She knew that he was about to turn, and he’d pushed his limits far too far.

  “No,” I screamed out loud. “I won’t sacrifice myself.”

  “We’ll see about that,” Alsie said.

  She tossed her head to the sky and roared. In response, Charth, whom the green glow had now left behind, hovered in the air for a moment. He turned his head towards us and shot forwards.

  “Charth,” I said. “What are you doing? Remember yourself…”

  But while his voice had sounded flat and dour before, now it was virtually monotone, a perfect representation of obsequiousness. “This is Finesia’s will,” he said. And I knew right then that he’d also been lost to the void.

  “You have no choice. My darling acolyte,” Finesia said in my head. “You must fight him. You and Charth were meant to be rivals.”

  “No”, I screamed out loud. And as Charth approached, Velos’s Gatling cannons bucked into life. I pushed down hard on Velos’ steering fin and we plummeted again towards the water. But no matter how much the cannons shot at Charth, they couldn’t affect him. He was immortal after all. Unless, that was, they just happened to hit the weak spot at the throat.

  “What’s he doing?” Faso shouted out, craning his neck up at Charth.