Dragonseers and Airships

by Chris Behrsin

  General Sako’s eyes opened wide. “Then we must raise a search party. If he alerts the enemy to our position, we’re toast.”

  “That won’t be necessary,” I said.

  “Why not?”

  “Because I’ve already killed him. I threw a knife in his back shortly after he ran out the doors.”

  He eyed me warily. “You don’t seem to me like a cold-blooded assassin.”

  “I understand the risks of the situation, General, and I did what was necessary.”

  “And how the dragonheats did he get hold of the knife in the first place?”

  “He stole it out of my garters as I was seeing to the fire. Somehow, he seemed to know exactly where it was. I guess it was unlucky for him he didn’t take both of them.”

  “And so, what happened to the body?”

  I turned to Talato. “We’ve already buried him. We figured that having his body around would just lower the morale of the troops.”

  The general’s gaze drifted off towards the fire pit as if deep in thought. He took his secicao pipe from his breast pocket and lit it up. Then he took a huff on it. But he said nothing more, and turned on his heel towards the door, the pipe clenched between his lips. “I guess now that we’re up, we might as well call an early march.”

  He stormed outside and started clapping his hand against the sides of the tents. “Rise and shine, shoulders. It’s time to make up some breakfast.” And with the volume at which he bawled out his orders, one would have thought there was no danger of being detected at all.

  16

  By the time the stew was ready, dawn was breaking. The aroma of fish, tomatoes, oregano, and pepper wafted into the air and filled the tent. The fire burned bright again, and the troops had gathered to warm their hands in the heat from it. Meanwhile, the cooking pot continued to cast its spell, making us hungrier and hungrier.

  Lieutenant Candiorno, the chef, huddled over the pot, stirring the bubbling red stew with a wooden spoon. He’d added two large fish and twenty cans of tomatoes, alongside generous doses of herbs and spices. With such generosity, one wouldn’t think we were marching on rations at all. Another pot of rice bubbled underneath the stew, containing a good kilogram of grain.

  I walked over to peer out the tent flap for a moment to see the sky had got even greyer. Faso, while sampling the stew, had told us a blizzard was en route. I cast my thoughts over to the Saye Explorer and the rest of the stationed flotilla and wondered how they fared. I hoped they hadn’t had to deal with automatons, as they were much more sitting ducks than we.

  I had sensed no distress from the dragons on ships. But then, I remembered, I’d just taken three tablets of cyagora. That’s why I didn’t feel so well and also why I couldn’t feel the pull of the dragon’s souls. I’d never taken three tablets before in one dose. So I had no idea how soon its effects would wear off.

  But at least Finesia had stopped raging inside my head. I truly couldn’t understand the extent of her powers. Which meant, without the cyagora, I’d never know if I was safe.

  “Okay, plate up,” Lieutenant Candiorno said, banging his wooden spoon against the pot. “Breakfast is served.”

  Everyone but Lieutenant Talato, who watched me with her characteristic caution, pushed their plates forward, eagerly eyeing the ladle. Ratter found his way through the tangle of forearms and perched himself on the rim of the pot. A metal bowl hung from his snout on a piece of wire. He lowered this into the stew and scurried back to Faso, Winda, and Taka, who had seated themselves by the canvas on three fabric chairs.

  As if on its own accord, the bowl rose towards Ratter’s mouth. Soon after, the automaton clasped its brass lips around the edge, and tipped the stew into Winda’s, Taka’s, and Faso’s bowls on the floor.

  General Sako looked at them disdainfully, but his attention was quickly averted by Lieutenant Candiorno pouring two ladles of stew over a serving of rice on his plate. I took two more plates – one for me, one for Talato – from the stool by the pot. I pushed them forwards, and Candiorno, gentlemen that he was, served me before everyone else.

  It was the best thing I’d tasted in a long time, not just because of the cooking but also it really helped heat the body up from the inside. This kind of weather got you cold underneath the clothing, no matter how many layers you had on. But the meal gave me the energy I would need to march another day.

  Unfortunately, the cyagora also pushed away any pleasure I might gain from the taste. Where I expected the tanginess of tomatoes and slight bitterness of oregano, instead there was only emptiness.

  “You know,” Faso said between mouthfuls. “We should tamp down this fire immediately. It was bad enough when some moron turned the lights on in the tent last night. But now, the heat signatures will attract attention, for sure.”

  “Don’t be a fool, Gordoni,” General Sako said. “Who’s going to see anything behind these grey clouds?”

  “People might not, but automatons will.”

  “I thought you said they didn’t operate well in cold conditions.”

  “I said that they’re not equipped for marching over ice. That doesn’t mean their sensors will fail. A blizzard won’t freeze them out of operation.”

  “Very well,” General Sako said. “Everyone put out the fire before you eat another spoon.” The troops let out a groan but jumped to their feet. They took hold of some buckets of melted snow that rested beside the tent wall and threw the contents over the fire.

  I noticed how quickly they’d got the job done. Clearly, everyone here was pretty hungry. And so, we all continued to tuck into our food – Ratter even edging over the pot to get another portion for Faso, Winda, and Taka.

  Just as I was down to my last few spoonfuls, a whirring sound erupted from outside. The marines and commandos jerked their rifles off their backs and filed out the door. Outside, they crouched in defensive formation.

  “Don’t shoot, don’t shoot,” Faso shouted, and he ran out and started scurrying around, pushing the soldiers’ rifles down. I followed him out, trailed by Talato and General Sako.

  “Gordoni, boy…” General Sako said. “What’s the meaning of this?”

  “They’re my Hummingbirds you hear approaching. I sent several out last night for recon.”

  General Sako’s moustache twitched. “Lower your weapons, soldiers. Next time, you should tell me before you send anything out into the field. What if they alerted the enemy to our location, or that same enemy extracted information about our origins from their recordings?”

  “That is exactly why I programmed them using advanced techniques so they wouldn’t be spotted,” Faso replied, his hands on his hips. “As for the data, I’ve made sure none of my new-generation Hummingbirds start recording until they get to their destination. Technology is evolving, you know, General Sako?”

  “And how can you be so sure these are our automatons, and not some decoys sent by Travast Indorm?”

  “Because this device tells me so.” Faso took a small flat disk from his pocket. It consisted of two glass plates, sandwiching a layer of water and what looked like a glob of silver floating liquid metal. The silver part pushed towards the edge of the disc in the direction from which we could hear the Hummingbirds approaching.

  I watched in anticipation as they appeared from behind the ever-thickening cloud cover. They wavered over strong wind currents, and settled just in front of Ratter, who was supervising their approach from the floor.

  “I’ll set up in the tent,” Faso said. “We need to examine their findings.” He rushed back inside.

  Only half the commandos and marines were in the tent once the pot had been put away and Faso had set up his devices. The rest stood outside, either standing guard or washing the cooking equipment using the remaining buckets of melted snow. Meanwhile, the more senior of us – the sergeants and corporals and lieutenants – had chairs set up in front of a section of the tent wall to serve as the screen. Meanwhile Faso fiddled with Ratter at the back of the tent.


  Soon enough, he screwed the projection lens into the socket inside Ratter’s mouth, and the first image came up on the screen. The night before had been a little clearer than I’d realised, and a streaky Aurora Borealis stretched across the sky. The initial Hummingbird we’d sent out as a scout hadn’t got close enough to the factory to see how it was constructed. But now, Faso’s automatons had captured it in its full glory.

  The complex was impressively melded into the rock face, with a few chimneys spewing out green smoke. Heavy brass door sealed off the entrances to the factory, operable by an intricate network of cogs on one side. Hummingbird and war automatons guarded the surrounding terrain, but they weren’t the only forms to grace the night.

  Many men and women were also scattered around the grounds, hammering at the rock with pickaxes. They all looked malnourished and barely wore any clothing, much like the man that I’d killed in this very tent. At first, I wondered how they could survive the extreme chill. But the green tint to their skin told all – they were augmented on secicao.

  One Hummingbird had got right up close to the face of one male to create a magazine-worthy portrait photograph of him. His skin was pockmarked and his eyes looked glazed, as if he didn’t know the automaton was there.

  “Hah,” Faso laughed out from the back of the room. “It seems that Travast Indorm’s autonomously producing automaton factory is not so autonomous after all.”

  I ignored his snarky comment. Faso’s internal ego match with Travast Indorm didn’t seem so important right now.

  “I guess the first question we need to address,” I said. “Is where did these men come from?” Then I remembered the articles that Papo had talked about in the Tow Observer, and I suddenly put two and two together… “The convicts.”

  General Sako nodded. “I read about them. Wellies, you aren’t saying that—”

  “Cini increased the number of arrests in the northern continent, so he could send them to the factory to work as slaves.”

  “See what I mean,” Faso said, sounding rather amused at the back. “This factory isn’t even complete yet. And who knows when they’ll even finish it.”

  “And if the king completes it, then we will have a lot of trouble down south.” General Sako said. “We have to take it down now, before they finish whatever it is they’re building.”

  “I think it might take a while,” Faso said.

  “Blunders and dragonheats! Have you seen the size of this thing?”

  “No, all I see is a wall of rock, with a few cogs arranged around it, some chimneys, and some big, heavy doors.”

  “And a lot of automatons,” I said. “Where do you think they came from? Don’t you think there might be a lot more beneath that rock?”

  Behind me, Faso shrugged. “There’s just no way Cini could have built so many automatons in such a small timescale. He just doesn’t have the resources.”

  “I think you’re wrong, Gordoni,” General Sako said. “And I also suspect there’s more to this factory than meets the eye.”

  Taka now leaned against the wall next to the entrance to the tent, one leg crossed over the other and his arms folded over his chest. Seeing him there reminded me.

  “What’s the purpose of this drug that Travast is feeding them, I wonder. They all look like they’re augmented…”

  “To make them loyal, of course,” Faso said from the back. “And from what we saw yesterday, it would seem this drug causes some kind of insanity.”

  “But then why would Travast also give the drug to Taka?”

  The boy straightened up his posture when he realised we were talking about him. But when everyone present turned to look at him he shrunk back towards the doorway. One by one, we returned our eyes to the screen.

  “Maybe,” Faso said. “Travast Indorm wanted Taka to be obedient. So, he would do exactly what he was told to do. Much like, I hear, Exalmpora did to you in the palace.”

  “No, it’s more than that.” I stood up and clenched my fists. “This is the work of Finesia.”

  Besides me, Lieutenant Talato turned to me with an expression of shock. She reached into her inner pocket. A murmuring came from everyone seated, and General Sako was again watching me cautiously.

  I walked over to General Sako and turned to face the room. “It’s about time, you all learned what we’re up against. Because it’s come to my attention that many of you don’t understand the true nature of the threat.” The fact that Lieutenant Talato couldn’t quite believe it, told me that others might also be in the same boat.

  “You may think our enemy is King Cini, but he’s only part of the threat. You may think our enemy is Alsie Fioreletta, but in fact she’s just acting under orders of another. Our true enemy is the Empress Finesia. Much as dragonseer minds can transcend the collective unconscious, the empress you know from myth is trying to take control of our psyche. She lives inside the head of every single dragonman and dragonwoman. She’ll take control of mine and Taka’s minds if we’re not vigilant. She recently took control of Charth’s. And, from what we saw at East Cadigan island, it looks like she may one day control the minds of normal humans too.”

  I kept scanning the faces of the marines and commandos as I talked to them, but I only saw astonished, incredulous faces. At the back, Faso was also scratching his chin, Winda standing beside him looking at me with a concerned expression.

  “Sit down, Pontopa,” General Sako said. “And please, stop it with your fantasies.”

  I sighed. “I think I’d rather get a breath of fresh air. Please continue with the briefing. I’ll be back shortly.”

  And I walked towards the exit. Lieutenant Talato and Taka followed me outside.

  We walked out into a nascent blizzard. The wind stifled my breath, making the air not seem as fresh as I’d hoped.

  I wasn’t even angry as such, the cyagora wouldn’t let me be. I just didn’t like the way everyone here had started passing judgement on me. They didn’t understand what us dragonseers had to deal with. If Gerhaun was here, she’d put them straight.

  I stared out at the men who patrolled through the growing wall of snow. Others were working at packing up the tents, which couldn’t have been the easiest job in such strong winds. Lieutenant Talato lit a cigarette and she stood between me and Taka, as if worried I’d damage the boy.

  “I didn’t know you smoked,” I said.

  “Not usually, Maam. But sometimes I need to, you know, introduce a little comfort.”

  “I understand,” I said. Not everyone in this world had to be so austere.

  Taka had edged around Talato a little and was looking up at me, his hands on his temples. He seemed to be concentrating hard on something, and it didn’t take me long to work out he was trying to speak to me in the collective unconscious.

  “It won’t work while I have the cyagora in me,” I said.

  Taka smacked himself on the head. “Of course. That’s why I’ve not been able to reach you. I’ve been trying to, after—”

  “I know,” I said. “And, yes, I guess we need to talk.”

  “But with the cyagora, you can’t communicate with the dragons, right?”

  “That’s right,” I said, feeling empty all of a sudden.

  “They’re doing well, by the way,” Taka said. “They’re a bit unnerved by the blizzard because none of them have ever gone through one before, but otherwise okay.”

  “That’s good,” I said. Then I crouched down to him. “Taka, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay, Auntie Pontopa. Now I understand why you needed the cyagora. I’m just worried. After what happened to Charth… And what’s happening to you… Will it happen to me too?”

  “Not if we find a way to keep Finesia out. We’ve got to keep trying. We can never give up. If we focus only on the fear, she will take dominion.”

  “Does that mean you won’t take any more tablets?” Taka asked.

  I turned to Lieutenant Talato, who nodded. “I’ll only take them if I absolutely
need to,” I said. “My connection to the collective unconscious is important for all of us. And Lieutenant Talato has agreed to keep an eye on me.”

  “I just hope you don’t hurt anyone again.”

  I raised my eyebrows, surprised that Taka trusted me after what I’d done. I really thought he’d be more afraid of me. But maybe what he’d experienced when taking Travast’s concoctions helped him understand. I guess he’d seen things that terrified him too.

  Taka walked around Lieutenant Talato and took hold of my hand. He tugged me back towards the tent. “Come on. You know what you have to do, Auntie Pontopa.”

  I looked down at him, surprised. “What’s that?”

  “If you can’t prove to them that they can trust you now, they’re never going to. But you’re still in charge of the dragons, and in this weather it’s a perfect time to spy on the factory, don’t you think?”

  “But our troops will march there in a day.”

  “The blizzard will be gone by then. Auntie, you know this makes sense. You need to get there fast.”

  “Taka, the drug won’t have worn off by then.”

  “And nothing will see you coming. No one would expect you to fly in this weather. But with dragonsongs, you can handle it. And I can come and help as well.”

  “No… It’s too dangerous.”

  “Auntie, remember what Gerhaun said. I’m sure Talato will look after me.”

  I sighed. How had we been roped into taking a child on such a dangerous mission, anyway? What would Sukina have said? “Let’s see what your grandfather thinks about that,” I said. And before Taka could get in another word, I turned to Talato. “Come on, Lieutenant. I have some convincing to do.”

  And I marched back into the tent, my vigour renewed.

  “We must charge while we have the element of surprise,” General Sako said to the room just as I entered the tent. “We know where the factory is, and now we can take it in force.”