“Dragonheats, this is not a game,” General Sako said, and I had to agree with his sentiment.
“Well, there’s three left,” Faso said. “Meanwhile, anything happening up above?”
“No, there’s been nothing else up here for miles. They must have been so confident that they’d take us out from underwater, that they didn’t even bother to send reinforcements.”
Under the surface, I caught sight of another three sharks. They were swimming in formation and heading right for the Saye Explorer’s hull. They let off every single missile on their fins, as they propelled themselves forwards their massive flippers, gaining on the Saye Explorer. We had to make chase.
But I turned to see Faso’s dragon automaton heading away from the boat, and I realised I would have to handle them myself. I willed Velos in my song to swing his tail and push him forward, as he kicked with his front feet. But he wouldn’t get there fast enough.
Unless…
Velos could now control the guns on his armour through his helmet, and I willed him to pivot them around, so they faced behind him. Then, I let them fire an entire controlled volley all at once. This projected Velos forwards, swimming as fast as a sailfish. The Gatling guns swung around to face forwards, and they unleashed their load into the sharks. Two of them crumpled up in the water, leaving that single shark on his tail, pursuing fast.
Velos was now decelerating, but he still had a lot of speed, gaining on a good fifty or so missiles that were heading straight towards the hull of the Saye Explorer. Enough, I guessed, to take down the entire boat.
The Gatling guns laid into their targets, shooting the missiles off their trajectories. They were so thin they were hard to hit. But we still reduced the number of on-target missiles by half.
Meanwhile, the shark on Velos’ tail was getting ever closer. We could turn and face it, but that would mean abandoning the missiles. I added some special reassuring notes to the song to will Velos to carry on, even though his instinct wanted him to turn around and face his pursuer head on. He caught up with the missiles and he shifted his body in an elaborate dance to knock many away from the hull.
The shark had caught up now and started gnashing at Velos’ tail. With one swing, Velos batted it away, but it came in for another pass. Meanwhile, he caught a missile in his mouth, and spat it out, so it spun down towards the seabed.
There were only two missiles left now.
“Dragonheats, there’s one on your tail,” Faso said. “You should have said something. Hold on, I’ll be right there.”
Both missiles drilled into the hull. In my own body, I felt the Saye Explorer rock underneath me. Velos wrenched one missile out of the ship with his jaw. But when he turned towards the other one, it was too deep inside for Velos to pull it out with his own strength. He clenched on to it with his teeth, while the shark circled around and approached Velos from his side. It was going straight for Velos’ neck. If Velos didn’t let go of the missile, he’d have his head torn off by that thing’s razor teeth.
But still he had to hold on. He couldn’t let go.
He thrashed at the water with his tail, and his leftmost Gatling gun targeted the shark. But it sputtered out one bullet and then stopped firing, depleted. I willed Velos to pump more secicao into the armour. And not to let go of the missile.
But as I watched the shark close in on. I knew that we’d have no choice. I commanded Velos to let go. But he wouldn’t. I added notes to my song to spur him into action. But his will was resolute.
Dragonheats, he’d sacrifice himself for us. He wanted to be a hero.
“See how weak you humans and dragons are,” Finesia said in my mind.
“Shut up!” I replied.
And I readied myself to use one of her gifts.
The shark was secicao powered. So, one of Finesia’s screams would disrupt the collective unconscious and disorient the automaton.
But I didn’t have to, because something big barrelled forwards from the side, knocking the shark off kilter. And just as that happened, Velos found some strength to tear the missile out of the hole. He dropped it out of his mouth towards the sea floor.
Velos turned his head to see the dragon automaton looking right back at him.
“We did it,” Faso said.
“Are there any more?” I asked.
“We should scout around,” Faso replied.
And so, we took Velos and the dragon automaton twice around the perimeter of the flotilla, before we decided the coast was now clear.
I raised the visor and noticed Faso had done the same.
“That’s Faso Gordoni sixteen, Pontopa four,” Faso said.
I really wanted to knock that smug look off his pretty face. “Shouldn’t you also count how many missiles we shot down? I mean, they were equally dangerous.”
“No,” Faso said. “The count only goes to automatons. Ammunition doesn’t count.”
I sighed, glad that we’d subverted the attack. But one officer in front of us pointed to something out of the window, and we saw another platform come into view in the distance. The cloud cover had abated quite significantly now, and so we could see it pretty clearly, even though it must have been a hundred or so yards away. The Greys were circling the ship above us.
“Taka, don’t let the dragons near,” I said. “I don’t want them shot down.”
But the platform didn’t seem to want to get near them either.
General Sako looked through Faso’s field glass at it, then he handed it to me. It wasn’t a projection of King Cini standing on top anymore, but Travast Indorm with his purple bandana over his face.
His voice boomed out of a loudspeaker system from the distance. “You may have thought you’ve won this battle,” he said. “But you’ve only angered the king. We’ll send reinforcements, and you shall not win this war.”
Faso chortled. “I think we will,” he said. “Our technology is definitely superior.” And his dragon automaton shot out of the water, sending up a tremendous splash over the deck of the Saye Explorer. Velos emerged shortly after and let out a roar, then joined his brothers in flight.
I wasn’t sure whether our technology was superior. But I had a feeling that King Cini would overwhelm us with numbers. Particularly if that factory was operational, since we’d only brought a small fleet.
I put the thought aside, because I knew we had to focus on getting those icebreakers. We had to take things one step at a time.
Part IV
Pontopa
“The worst thing you can lose is yourself.”
Pontopa Wells
12
We were graced with a beautiful vista on our journey back to Port Szutzko. I was in flight on Velos’ back, with Taka and Lieutenant Talato behind me. Faso and General Sako flew alongside us on the dragon automaton. The general had insisted on coming along so he could be part of the negotiations. I’d half expected both men to spend the journey arguing with each other, and I’d even considered having General Sako on Velos’ back and Talato on the dragon automaton’s. But General Sako didn’t know how to operate the armour, and both he and Faso were pretty quiet anyway, presumably exhausted after all the commotion.
The clouds had now lifted much higher in the sky. The sun was setting underneath them, casting an amber cover overhead. It all looked like a burning fire, reminding me of the lava lake that I’d stared at beneath the Pinnatu Crater two years ago, with Wiggea’s hand in mine.
And now, he’d become a different man. I dreaded learning of the destruction he might have caused at Port Szutzko. But, if we hadn’t left him to his own devices, then our fleet would have had no chance of fending off the automaton sharks.
I could feel Velos was tired, and so I didn’t want to push him too hard. Faso had refuelled his armour, but I had asked Lieutenant Talato not to use the secicao unless absolutely necessary.
“How are you doing, Auntie”? Taka said in my head. At that instance, it surprised me Taka could talk to me like this. But then I r
emembered I was a dragonwoman now. Even if I refused to transform, I still had the capabilities Finesia had given me. And one of them was being a medium for telepathy.
“It’s been a long day,” I said. “But thank you for asking, Taka. How are you feeling?”
“Great,” Taka said. Typical kid – acting as if he hadn’t a worry in the world. “It looked so cool what you were doing with that helmet, Auntie. Do you think I could have a go someday?”
“Someday,” I said. “If your father lets you.”
“Oh, he will,” Taka replied. “He will.”
I shook my head. Knowing Faso, he’d say his inventions weren’t toys for Taka to play with.
“Say, Auntie,” Taka said. “Do you miss Wiggea?”
I sighed. It seemed the boy was just as insightful as his mother had been. “He was a good soldier and a good man,” I replied.
“But he’s still out there. I mean, we saw him. And he didn’t seem so bad.”
“That’s exactly what Finesia wants you to see, Taka,” I replied. “Never trust her. She only aims to deceive.”
I turned around and Taka nodded at me. “But Wiggea was more to you than just a soldier, wasn’t he? I saw the way you looked at him sometimes.”
“There was something,” I said. “But it wasn’t meant to be.”
“But maybe we could bring him back Auntie. Maybe someone can talk to him and help him get Finesia out of his head. Doctor Forsolano tells me that sometimes people’s minds just get sick for a while, and they often only need to be talked to in a certain way. Sometimes, he says, he may also give them pills. Is that why you took the tablets, Auntie? Did you need to get better too?”
I shook my head. It seemed Taka might have asked Doctor Forsolano about me and maybe the doctor let on more than he should have. “It doesn’t matter now. I won’t need to take them again.”
“But maybe we can get Wiggea to take them. And maybe we can get Charth to take them, and Alsie. Do you think we can save them that way, Auntie? Can we make them good again?”
“I don’t know,” I said. Somehow, I didn’t believe there was any turning back for these creatures. I don’t believe Gerhaun did either. But while I didn’t want to lie to the kid, I didn’t also want him to lose hope.
The sun had almost sunk beneath the horizon, and now the brilliant amber ball behind us seemed to limn the cliffs of East Island in red fire. As we progressed, an icy wind picked up from behind, evidently heading inland as the sea cooled.
“The thing the boy doesn’t realise,” Finesia said in my head, “is there is no turning back. But it doesn’t matter, because when my acolytes discover what they can gain through me, they never want to let go. Accept it, Acolyte Wells, my world is a better one. Why do you fight for a life which will always be a constant battle to the grave?”
But even if her question was valid, I couldn’t open myself up to her. If I answered her question, she’d just try to reason with me that we, as humans, had no better choice. Yet, humans didn’t work that way. We lived for our emotions, and what Finesia seemed to offer was an empty, emotionless world. But then, cyagora had also killed my emotions. And I couldn’t help but wonder if one option was really better than the other.
“You will become greater than any creature that’s ever lived on this planet,” Finesia continued. “You will surpass even me, when I had form on this world. You cannot control your fate, my acolyte, but you can embrace it.”
I shook her away once I realised I’d let her enter my head again. It seemed that Doctor Forsolano was right and Finesia would get stronger. But I had to keep in control.
Suddenly, a sparkle came off the sea, then another, and then a third. I noticed them to belong to the coils at the front of the icebreakers. And Wiggea was down there somewhere and he had retrieved them.
“Darling,” this wasn’t Finesia inside my head now but Wiggea. “Aren’t you going to at least say thank you?”
“What did you do to get these, Wiggea?” I asked.
“Oh, how it hurts not to have your appreciation. You used to give me so much more.”
“Answer my question, Wiggea.”
“Rastano, please… It’s Rastano, remember.”
“Wiggea…” Calling him by his first name would bridge the distance between us, which I was trying to avoid.
And he said no more in response.
I caught a faint whiff of smoke in the air, and I thought I could see burning in the distance, ever so faintly. What destruction had Wiggea caused? A whole town ransacked, perhaps. How many innocent civilians had he killed?
But we had no time to find out. We needed to get moving before King Cini or Travast Indorm sent those automatons they’d promised.
“There are the icebreakers,” General Sako’s voice came over the speaker system installed on Velos’ flank. “Blunders and dragonheats, we’ve got them.”
I shook my head. “But I don’t know at what cost.”
And as they came clearer into view, I gazed down upon the silhouette of a man standing on the narrow prow of the leading icebreaker. He wore the king’s redguard uniform, and he looked out at the red light spilling out from beneath the horizon.
I took Velos down towards the ship so I could face my former dragonelite and find out exactly what he wanted from us.
The lights came on on the icebreakers as Velos and the dragon automaton descended. They shone out from the side of the boat, casting long reflections on the calm, cold water. Others lit up the narrow, flat roofs of the ships’ superstructures that spanned almost the entire length of each one, making them look like massive barges. Only at the back did each one have a second cabin with a flat raised roof, with barely enough space for either Velos or Faso’s automatons to land on. So, I took Velos down on the roof section of the lower superstructure. The floor was slippery, and Velos slid across the deck, men in bright fluorescent orange life jackets scurrying out of the way of his path, before coming to a halt several yards away. Faso brought his dragon automaton down for a much smoother landing on the upper deck.
Wiggea stood on the foredeck looking out to sea, not seeming to have paid much attention to our landing, or at least cared too much about it. I instructed Talato to stay on Velos, with her rifle cocked, but not yet aimed. I scrambled down the ladder, the rungs cold against my delicate fingers.
A man with a wizened face and a thick scar running from his left temple to his right cheek came over to greet me as General Sako descended the ladder from behind. “Miss Wells, I presume,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I’m Captain Pitash. Explorer of the coldest parts of this world, wildlife enthusiast, trained zoologist, and owner of these three vessels.”
I took his gloved hand, relishing the slight warmth against the chill that was numbing my hand. I made a mental note to, when I got back to the Saye Explorer, ask Admiral Sandao for some gloves. Even in the coldest conditions, I only covered by hands when I absolutely needed to. But I was quickly reaching that point of necessity.
“Thank you for offering to lend us your vessels at such brief notice,” I said. “I’ll make sure you’re well compensated.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” the captain replied. “One of Candalmo’s clerks has already handed over the funds. All you need to worry about is making sure we don’t run into any danger as agreed, otherwise the price will triple.”
I nodded. It had been good of Candalmo to offer to fund this, he’d said he wanted to do his part to help a noble cause. But I didn’t want him to end up overpaying because of our oversights. And somehow, Captain Pitash didn’t look the most trustworthy type. But then I really shouldn’t judge someone based on the size of their scar.
I turned to General Sako.
He coughed against the back of his hand, then lifted his secicao pipe from his pocket and lit it with a match. “You are under our protection now, Captain Pitash,” he said. “And Gerhaun Forsi will cover whatever extra costs occur – within reason, of course.”
“And I hear
that she’s never been one to break an agreement,” Pitash said. “I respect that.”
I looked over to Wiggea, a little surprised he hadn’t even budged from his position to greet us yet. “I see you couldn’t shake him,” I said.
“Aye,” Pitash said, looking at Wiggea out of the corner of his eye. “He’s been standing there since he landed. No one’s even dared approach him. We’ve never seen anything like him.”
I nodded. “It’s probably for the best to keep your distance. What happened, anyway?”
Pitash looked out to sea. “It was terrible,” he said. “I didn’t realise what he was at first, and I thought I was hallucinating. But the rest of the crew also saw him. There was this massive roar from the sky, then the dragon landed on our icebreaker. It was black as oil, with this dark rainbow sheen over it – quite unnatural.” Pitash glanced at Velos, then turned back to me. “We had a redguard on deck, making sure that we didn’t try fleeing the port. But as soon as he raised his rifle at the dragon, it just swooped down out of the sky and took him up in his claws. Then it dropped the body, and the last we saw was the redguard crashing into the water, defenceless.
“The other guards on other ships tried firing too.” He turned in the direction of the town. “But one by one, the dragon picked them off in the same way. Bullets wouldn’t hurt it. Then, the thing flew out to town, and doused Port Szutzko in flames. Fortunately, none of our crew have family in the city, but some of my sailors have had, well, other connections…
“As we fled, we caught sight of the shantytown next to the port. The whole neighbourhood was made of wood, and so became this raging inferno. We saw people throwing themselves off the high windows into the sea. We wanted to help them. But we feared if we turned back, the dragon would take our ships too.
“So, we fired up our propellers and fled as fast as we could. Next thing we know, the dragon has landed again on our deck. And there was this great black cloud rising from it. Then that man was standing there. And he’s been there, like a sacred statue, ever since… Do you know what he is, Miss Wells? Do you know how to get rid of him?”
Dragonseers and Airships Page 70