So long as he returned with tons of harvested secicao, King Cini wouldn’t even bat an eyelid about the exported tea. We had a mutual agreement with Candalmo not to send out Greys to disrupt his harvesting procedures. Which meant Candalmo didn’t have to spend as much on defences and could travel deeper into The Southlands to gain richer secicao. This kept his prices low, his quality high, and made him one of the most sought-after merchant traders in the whole of Tow.
“So what’s news?” I asked my father.
“Oh, not much. Still pretty uneventful. There are rumours of a new factory up north. Ginlast… Say, wasn’t that where Sukina and General Sako are from?”
“Yeah,” I said. “What of it?”
“There’s an article in here about the king’s personal scientist and how he has built the most advanced technology ever seen.”
I snorted. “Yeah, we’ve all heard that one before.” Every day, in fact, from our resident inventor genius, Faso Gordoni.
“Ah, but this is different,” Papo continued. “The scientist designed a factory that can produce automatons all by itself. An automaton that produces automatons, which might eventually become automatons that can also produce automatons, so the factory is a self-replicating machine that builds itself up over time. Isn’t that fascinating? Why hasn’t Faso created anything like it?”
I nodded. “I’m sure if Faso had all the resources, he could do this too.” And in a way I hoped he didn’t see the article, because this might put ideas into his head. But given my father and Faso were such good comrades, no doubt the inventor would hear about it soon.
“Does it say what kind of automatons they’re creating?” I asked.
“Oh, the usual: war automatons, Hummingbirds. Perhaps even some automatons of which we’ve never seen the likes of before. But the details are highly secret.”
My heart fluttered in my chest, and I put my hand to it. Increased war automatons would mean increased attacks from the king down here in the south. As soon as Gerhaun awoke, I’d have to make her aware of the matter. And we might see ourselves going into battle sooner than I’d first thought.
“Anything else?” I asked Papo.
Just before Papo replied, my mother placed three teacups down on the table, and I lifted the cup to my nose to relish the aroma and warmth. She sat down on the stool next to Papo.
“There’s also news of increased convictions in Tow and other countries of the Northern Continent,” Papo said. “The Observer says the king’s ruthlessly cracking down on even the pettiest of crimes. There’s even a central feature article with mugshots of a hundred of the most wanted that have been caught and sent to prison.”
He turned the paper around to show me the photos, all in sepia monochrome, and everyone looking at the camera with angry eyes. I didn’t recognise any of them, but then why would I? I hadn’t lived in Tow for a while and I didn’t really keep track of what was happening up there. In all honesty, I hadn’t kept abreast of things so much while living there either. But I did hear a lot of the news from my father.
“I wonder where he’s keeping them.”
“Beats me,” Papo said. “But if he arrests too many people, he’ll reduce the number of blue-collar workers in the cities, and then there’ll be a problem.”
“It’s all speculation, dear,” Mamo said. “By the way, Pontopa, how’s the tea? Candalmo brought a new strain from the mountains just southwest of Ginlast.”
I took a sip. It had a certain smokiness in it I’d never tasted in tea before.
“Pretty good,” I said. “Unusual. Although, it has a pretty acidic taste as well.”
Papo took a sniff of his tea, then a short sip, and placed the cup back down on the table. “I can’t help but miss secicao.”
“Papo, we’ve been through this thousands of times. Secicao is destroying the planet. To drink the stuff would be to support a habit that will see the destruction of this world in thirty years if we’re not careful. That’s what we’re fighting for, remember?”
“But what does it matter here?” Papo said. And every time he’d say the same thing. “The soil is already dead here and the only thing that grows is secicao. It can’t spread any more on this continent.”
“That’s not the point, Papo, and you know it. It’s the principle that counts, the morale behind the troops. Plus, we don’t want anyone getting addicted to the stuff.” And I thought once again of Taka. “Speaking of which...” I turned to Mamo.
“What is it, dear?” she looked up from her teacup.
“We need to watch Taka,” I said. “Ratter caught him taking a vial of a drug off an automaton. It looked like some kind of secicao oil, although Winda is still running tests to discover what it is. We suspect Taka has been taking it every day.”
“Some kind?” Papo raised an eyebrow.
“It had something else in it. It was strange. It reacted to me touching it through the glass. Anyway, the point is he’s addicted.”
“Did you take him to see Doctor Forsolano about it?” Mamo asked.
“Of course. Whatever it is, Doctor Forsolano realises it’s strong stuff. We need to wean him off it slowly, otherwise it could have unpredictable effects.”
Mamo nodded. “I’ll look out for him,” she said. “Poor child. Losing his mother at such an early age. It can’t have been easy for him.”
This caused a slight pang of sadness to rise inside me, although ever so faint as the rest of the emotion was tamped down by the drug. “Yes,” I said. “It’s been tough for him...” Particularly when his father didn’t even seem to care.
I opened my mouth to say something else, forgot completely what it was, and so I lowered my head and took another sip of the tea. It wasn’t long before we heard a commotion coming from the doorway.
Lieutenant Gereve Talato came in, the woman I had promoted to replace Lieutenant Wiggea as my personal dragonelite bodyguard, after her bravery helping me and Velos survive a superstorm. The stout and short woman looked great in olive uniform, and she had an expression of concern plastered all over her face.
“Dragonseer Wells,” she said. “You must come quickly. General Sako has ordered an emergency briefing.”
I stood up quickly. “What’s it about Lieutenant?”
“We’ve sighted a sizeable battalion of automatons approaching. Mammoths, war automatons, Rocs, Hummingbirds and these great mechanical flying zeppelins. They’re heading right for us.”
“Dragonheats! Then we must take action at once. Mamo, Papo, wait here.”
But Papo had already stood up. “If there’s a battle out there, I want to be fighting too.”
“I don’t have time for this, Papo. You’re needed here, and I don’t want you slowing us down.”
And Mamo stood up and pushed him back down onto the seat by his shoulders. I nodded to thank her, and I rushed out into the corridor.
I was surprised to find Taka approaching as soon as I stepped out of the door, trailed by two rather alarmed looking guards, one of whom was Lieutenant Candiorno – perhaps General Sako’s most trusted officer.
“Lieutenant Candiorno, I thought we told you not to let Taka out of the room?”
“It’s not as if we can shoot him, Maam, and General Sako would kill us if we caused any physical damage to the boy.”
“But wasn’t the door meant to be locked?”
“He needs toilet breaks...”
I nodded, biting my tongue. “Taka, what is it?”
“Auntie Pontopa,” he looked kind of excited. “I felt them coming. There’s a battle, isn’t there? I want to join in.”
“But you’re far too young to be going out on the field. And how the dragonheats could you know what our scouts detected several miles away.” I guessed it would be another side effect of the drug, but I wanted confirmation.
“I told you, I sensed them. They’re powered by secicao, aren’t they?”
“Sensed them? Taka, what’s this about?”
He said nothing.
Candiorno leaned in to grab Taka. But the boy pirouetted out of the way, ducking underneath the officer’s grasp like an agile monkey. He scampered off down the corridor.
“We need to make sure he stays here safe and sound,” I said with a sigh as I watched him go. “Do what you can to make it so.”
And I left him to act on my orders as I picked up pace towards the courtyard.
Part II
General Sako
“Blunders happen when leaders don’t pay attention.”
General Orgati Sako
5
“Blunders and Dragonheats,” General Sako's voice bawled out into the corridor, before I’d even entered the courtyard. “What's the boy doing here? Candiorno, I thought you were meant to be keeping him under guard?”
Candiorno trailed out after me and saluted his superior. “I'm sorry, sir. The boy proved rather elusive.”
“You can say that again,” the ruddy-faced moustachioed general said. “Taka, go back to your room at once.”
Instead, the boy skipped down the side of the rows of seats and he took a place next to a female soldier with long black hair. She looked at him with raised eyebrows, seemingly unsure what to do.
“I'm part of this all,” Taka said. “And I’ll have to fight them some day. Don’t you think it’s better that I can at least see what’s happening?”
General Sako paused a moment and stared at the boy. Everyone fell silent, as if wondering if Taka’s grandfather would lash out. But the boy didn’t seem afraid, and it was General Sako who eventually conceded.
“Fine,” he said. “It will do you good to see what we're up against and time is of the essence. Dragonseer Wells, sit down please. Faso, I see you've finally managed to get here, late as usual.”
Faso and his assistant and girlfriend, Asinal Winda, came out a door at the opposite end of the courtyard and placed themselves on the back row. We called her just Winda, not out of rudeness, but because she’d told us her surname was also her childhood nickname, and so she preferred it.
Ratter scurried off Faso’s shoulder and onto a tall table behind the two scientists. The automaton opened his mouth to reveal a projection lens. The machine whirred, and the lens extended to twice its length, before Ratter clasped his jaw around it. It lit up to display some images on the screen at the front.
I hurried over to my place on the front row and folded one leg over the other when I sat down next to my dragonelite bodyguard, Lieutenant Talato. She turned to me and smiled, then turned back to the screen.
Talato hadn’t been kidding when she’d described what we were up against. Indeed, the battalion was sizeable and comprised an impressive array of different types of automatons. It would take an enormous flock of dragons to oust them in combat, and we also didn’t know what was lurking beneath them in the soil.
“How long ago was this taken?” I asked.
“Hold your horses, Dragonseer Wells,” General Sako replied. “I haven't even started the briefing yet, and you’re downright asking questions.”
I stood up. “We have no time for delay, I need to know the information quickly so I can act as fast as possible.”
A cough came from the back and I turned around to see Faso had stood up again. “She's right, you know, General. We must spring into action at once.”
“Gordoni boy,” General Sako replied, his face red, “what would you know about military tactics?”
“I know danger when I see it. And, of course, I shall accompany your soldiers into battle. I could learn a thing or two from observing these Roc automatons.”
Through the masses of heads, I just caught sight of Asinal Winda’s expression. No woman wants their boyfriend to be charging out into battle at the first opportunity. She wore glasses, grey hair, and a meek demeanour that didn’t quite bring out her looks. She was also now Faso's girlfriend. She was therefore one of the few around here who could settle the inventor’s renegade spirits. But this time, she did nothing to stop him.
“Okay, okay,” General Sako said. “You've all made your point. I'll keep this brief. The automatons are about a couple of hours from here. If we let them carry on their path, they'll take down Fortress Gerhaun, and you already know this place wasn’t built to weather a siege.”
That was true. For generations, no one would have expected for anyone to close in on the fortress. It wasn't until we invented gas masks that humans could live down here, although the dragons had always been capable of breathing the thick secicao air.
“Gordoni boy,” General Sako said. “I hear your dragon automaton is nearly ready for battle. Is this true?”
“Not yet,” Faso said. “We still need to make a few minor modifications.”
“And how long will that take?”
“I don’t know… Around an hour or two, give or take.”
“Then, blunders and dragonheats, why are you here and not over there tinkering? It could help us win the battle.”
“Fine,” Faso said. “Then I'll just get back to work then. I guess you won't be needing me here.”
Winda stood up and trailed Faso towards the back of the courtyard where the near-completed dragon automaton lay splayed out on the floor.
“Taka, boy,” General Sako said. “Join your father over there and help him complete the automaton.”
“No,” Taka said. “I'm going into battle with my auntie here.”
I turned over my shoulder to scowl at the boy. “Taka, you know full well this is a serious military matter. You will do as your grandfather and our well-respected general says.”
“You'll have to catch me first.” Taka sprang off his seat and sprinted towards the stables at a surprising speed.
“Taka!” I shouted, and I took off after him.
I didn’t know quite where he had gone, and I couldn’t detect him in the collective unconscious. My best bet was Velos’ stables, and so I sprinted towards there.
But once I reached them, he wasn’t there, and Velos lay asleep on the hay on the floor. I stopped to catch my breath, and then a roar came from the sky so loud it both shook my bones and caused Velos to jerk upright. I craned my head to see hundreds of Greys rising into the sky.
Soon enough, I heard the faint calls of a dragonsong in the collective unconscious, Taka’s voice behind it. Taka sat astride one dragon, a gas mask pressed against his face and his little legs dangling from the sides.
“Are you coming, Auntie?” he said in the collective unconscious. “We don't need the soldiers. Travast tells me the dragons will be enough.”
I wasn’t sure what I was more surprised by – seeing him fly away or the fact I could hear his voice in the collective unconscious when I was under the effects of cyagora. But I didn’t have time to dwell on it.
“Dragonheats, Taka,” I replied. “You can’t trust this man. He works for King Cini.”
“No, Auntie, there’s more to it than that.”
“What the dragonheats are you talking about?
“You’ll see… You’ll see.”
The dragons disappeared behind the thick clouds. I tried to sing a song to call them back, but with the cyagora inside me, I couldn’t even sense them. Lieutenant Gereve Talato had chased after me and was already standing beside me. I turned to her.
“Come with me, Lieutenant. We must follow the boy on Velos.”
“Affirmative, Maam.”
We both ran towards the dragon. I scrambled up the ladder on the armour, sweating and unnaturally out of breath whilst Talato ran up Velos’ tail towards the back seat.
Just as we were ready to take off, General Sako barrelled into the room.
“I'm sorry about this, General,” I shouted down to him – I felt partially responsible, really. “But we still have plenty of Greys. Get as many troops on dragonback as you can muster and follow me out.”
“I
guess we have no choice,” General Sako said, and he looked up into the sky, astonishment evident in his wide eyes.
I pulled back on Velos' steering fin, and he roared in response before flying into the sky. It wasn't a roar of anger, but rather adulation. For Velos hadn't tasted battle for a long, long time.
6
We were soon neck to neck with Taka; me sitting at the front and Lieutenant Talato sitting at the back with one hand on the modified control panel that could now control the whole armour. We didn’t have as much control as Faso would when he had Ratter there to scurry around operating things. But Talato knew enough to turn the Gatling guns on and off and augment Velos with secicao.
Taka held onto his Grey’s steering fin, a rictus of pleasure on his face and his eyes set dead ahead. Both Taka and Talato wore gas masks as the air wasn’t breathable up here.
Instead, I wore my bit-and-clip device, pretty much the same as what divers used with a peg over the nose so I didn’t accidently breathe through it. I found this much more comfortable than a clammy mask.
“Taka,” I screamed, as we were too far away from Gerhaun to talk in the collective unconscious, “what in the dragonheats do you think you’re doing?”
Once, I’d found it difficult to project my voice with my teeth clenched around a bit. But I’d now perfected this skill to an art.
His high-pitched voice came out muffled behind his mask, but still loud enough to hear. “You said before it was urgent. So I thought we should get into battle as quickly as possible. If you let Grandfather take charge, we’d be there all day.”
“But that’s foolish. We need time to gather our forces. And you’re far too young for battle.”
“Oh, we won’t need more dragons. Travast has told me what we have is enough.”
Dragonseers and Airships Page 62