“Even Taka’s?”
“You and he are both valuable, Maam. I just hope he’s safe.”
“Me too,” I said.
There came a clanking sound from the staircase which sounded like chisels hitting stone. I turned my head to see two standard-issue war automatons descend. A man in a redguard uniform, with a deep scar across his left cheek, followed down after them. He carried a syringe in his hand with a green liquid inside.
He walked past us and turned to the slave’s cell. He took hold of a device from his hip, touched it to the door, and there came the sound of cogs grinding together before the lock clicked open.
“Is that it?” I asked. “Not even a hello?”
But the guard completely blanked me. He unlocked the man’s fetters, took the syringe, and plunged it into the prisoner’s arm. The slave remained stock still, without even flinching. The guard released the cuffs at his back and locked them again at the front. He grabbed these and dragged the guard back towards the staircase without offering us a parting glance.
“Friendly, aren’t they?” I said to Talato.
Her bottom lip was quivering. I never thought I’d see her so afraid.
When she was working for Admiral Sandao on board his dragon carrier, she’d probably never imagined she’d encounter this kind of danger. Things on ships were much more black and white – you either survived or went down with the rest of the crew. But now, as a bodyguard to a dragonseer, she had one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. And I’d promoted her into it.
The war automatons continued to stand vigil at the bottom of the stairs. They had their guns pointed right at us. This time, it was our turn to sit stock still. Even a slight flinch could trigger the automatons’ Gatling cannons.
Another redguard came down the stairs. This one had a full-growth russet beard and carried a leather briefcase. He unlocked the doors to our cell with his device and placed this back in his belt.
He walked up to me first, and opened the briefcase, to reveal a line of empty syringes. He took one of these and held it up to the light. “Orders are that every human in this factory must have their blood samples taken for DNA monitoring purposes. Prisoners are no exception.”
He stepped behind me, pulled up my sleeve, and I felt the sting of a needle entering my forearm. I glanced over my shoulder to see the guard also take a blood sample from Talato, before returning both full syringes to the briefcase.
“Are you at least going to give us some food?” I asked. “We’re pretty hungry after our march.”
The guard nodded. This one seemed at least to have an ounce of humanity to him. “We were ordered not to feed you until we’d taken the samples. But now that’s done, I can put forward your request.”
“Just make sure it’s not drugged or anything,” I called after him as he closed the door behind him. Although, at this point I was so thirsty, I would rather have drugged water than nothing at all.
The war automatons followed the guard up the staircase, leaving us alone.
Lieutenant Talato and I waited in silence for what must have been a good ten minutes. The anger and frustration inside me was rising. Meanwhile, I could do nothing but wait, wondering all the time what they had planned for us. I was worried about Velos, and Taka, and General Sako, and the fates of everyone else we’d left behind, including Faso.
I don’t know how much time passed before our next visitor arrived. This time, Travast Indorm emerged from the bottom of the staircase, wearing his purple bandana and ambling with a peculiar limp. Indeed, this was the first time I’d seen him in physical and not holographic form.
He surveyed us from outside the cell without opening the door, as though afraid we might somehow break our cuffs and fetters strangle him to death. With the right blend of secicao I could. If only some magical fairy would fly right up and pour some down my throat. I could also have just claimed Finesia’s gift and transformed into a dragon, but I really didn’t want to do that.
“So, we meet you in the flesh finally,” I said to him. “Only when we’re completely incapacitated do you have the courage to show yourself from behind your technological walls.”
The scientist narrowed his eyes. “I’m wise to take precautions when facing dragons and a remarkable breed of human they call a dragonseer. Too many charge blindly into battle. But I’m no such fool…”
“So, what do you want of us exactly? Given the trouble I caused at his palace, I would have thought the king would have ordered me killed.”
I couldn’t see the shape of his mouth under his bandana, but his eyes lit up as if amused. “Oh, King Cini doesn’t want that, believe me.”
Static sounded from the talkie at his hip. He raised it to his ear and listened. Unfortunately, I couldn’t quite hear what the man at the other end said. But his voice sounded regimented, and his sentences short.
“Wonderful,” Travast replied. “Bring the boy in first and keep hold of the general until I give the orders.”
I clenched my fists behind my back, digging my nails hard into my palms. Dragonheats, he had Taka. They must have ambushed the camp shortly after we’d got caught. A short while later, a redguard appeared with Taka at the bottom of the stairs, with his hair all mussed up.
He shot an angry glance at Travast. “Traitor,” he said. “I thought I could trust you.” His voice was almost breaking.
But Travast didn’t even look back at him in response.
The guard threw Taka in the cell opposite us where the slave had been. He didn’t cuff him or put him in fetters, clearly unaware of how elusive the boy could be. Taka slumped against the far wall and turned his head away from me when I tried to meet his gaze.
“You can’t keep a boy down here in conditions like this,” I said. “Particularly the same child the king considers as his nephew.”
“Oh, King Cini would be quite happy with me selecting a suitable punishment for such an itinerant child. And, when he arrives, he can decide what to do with him.”
He took a step back towards the entrance. But I wasn’t going to let him get away so fast.
“What do you want, Travast?” I asked again.
He responded by wheezing out a laugh so sharp it reverberated off the walls. “Always to the point, young dragonseer. I like that. I want to do my duty by holding you here until King Cini arrives. But then the question you probably want answering is what does he want of you? He was rather excited to hear that you’d arrived. So much, in fact, that he left his luxurious suite in Ginlast to come and meet you.”
I clenched my teeth. I had no idea how Taka could have trusted Travast. But now, the boy was glaring at the back of Travast’s head, with a look that said he wanted to kill him. I calmed myself and focused on my surroundings. From the distance came a drip, drip, dripping of water – maybe snow melting off a roof. An open entrance, perhaps.
“Very well,” I said. “I’ll rephrase my question. What exactly does Cini want?”
“Isn’t it obvious? If he’d have wanted you dead by now, he would have killed you. You and the boy are the only people in this entire world who can control the Greys. Our loyal king would pay a thousand golden airships to have your allegiance in his war effort. If only you could convince him you’d joined his side…” He steepled his fingers together and lowered his head as if deep in thought. “And if you could do it without my coercion, imagine the potential. Imagine the riches. Imagine the life you could create for your family and your future children. All it would take is a little shift in worldview.”
“You’d sooner see me roll in pig muck than support King Cini.”
Travast scratched at his chin underneath his bandana. Though he didn’t move it far enough for me to see underneath, it was clear he wore that thing for more purpose than fashion, perhaps concealing a scar or terrible breath. “I thought as much. The king had warned I’d probably have to resort to drugs.” He reached into his breast pocket and produced a vial of silver liquid.
Examlpora.
My mouth filled with saliva, and I jerked towards it, knocking my chair on the floor.
“Dragonseer Wells,” Talato said.
But I wasn’t listening. Instead, I felt the hunger. Travast turned around in a full circle and displayed the vial to Taka, who stood up with wide eyes and moved towards the front of the cell. We were like ghouls after flesh – dead to our senses.
Yet, still something was missing. Finesia would usually be screaming out in my head at this point, telling me to get hold of that vial through any means possible. But she wasn’t there.
Travast gave a curt nod and pocketed the vial. “Most fascinating. Exalmpora – the blood of a dragon queen. If only they had informed me of its benefits sooner, I could have moulded Taka to the king’s perfection. But Alsie Fioreletta kept it hidden from me, as she always had her own agenda. Anyway, I hear you’ve also found ways to overcome it, so I thought I’d try more conventional means.”
He lifted the talkie to his mouth. “Bring him down,” he said.
“Travast what are you—”
But I stopped myself as he raised a finger to his lips and stared at me with his dangerous grey eyes. “Shh.”
Heavy metallic footsteps came from the top of the staircase. They belonged to two massive automatons, much more heavily armoured than the war automatons that had visited us before. Thick brass plates shifted around their joints, with something hissing underneath as their bodies moved. Between them, in their thick hands, they carried a wooden plank that reached down to the floor, but I couldn’t quite tell what it was until they turned it around.
A rack, and on it lay General Sako, gagged by electrical tape.
My heart skipped a beat, and I gasped.
Travast walked up to the general and ripped off the gag. General Sako grimaced but remained stoically silent. He lifted his head and glared angrily at his captor.
“Blunders and dragonheats, Indorm. You will pay for this. My troops will soon come in and rescue us and torch this place. You underestimate the size of our operation.”
Travast chuckled. “I believe the truth is quite the contrary. It’s you that underestimates the power contained within this factory.”
He walked over to the rack and turned a crank handle by 180-degrees. General Sako grimaced, though he did not cry out.
“You see,” Travast said. “I thoroughly researched you, Dragonseer Wells. The king has a detailed dossier on you, and we know that you’re much more likely to save friends in need than yourself.”
He turned the handle again, and this time General Sako cried out in pain. His face went red and his breathing heavy, as sweat pooled on his wizened brow.
“Dragonheats, Travast,” I shouted. “Stop it. He’s defenceless.”
Travast turned to me and gave me a knowing look. “Isn’t that the whole point of torture? To demonstrate where the balance of power lies until your subject gives you what you want.”
I jerked towards him and yelped out in pain from the fetters pulling back on my ankles.
“Don’t tell him anything, Dragonseer Wells,” General Sako called out.
Travast turned back to the general and slapped him with a backhand to the face.
“Just tell me what you want,” I said. “I need to know your terms before you harm anyone else. Let’s at least be civil here.”
“See, I told you I didn’t need Exalmpora. And I don’t ask for much. Only a little good behaviour. Simply be civil when the king arrives and convince him you’d make an excellent ally to his cause. It’s not too hard, is it?”
Blood rushed to my cheeks, and I bit my tongue to stop me saying anything I regretted. Travast nodded and turned back to the rack. The features on the general’s face were wound tight – the old man was a tough nut who was usually great at hiding his fears.
Travast put his hand on the handle. But before he could turn it one more time, a guard came running down the stairs. He turned to Travast and saluted. “Commander Indorm, sir.” Commander? So Travast was military…
“What is it, soldier? Spit it out.”
“The dragon automaton’s back and is unleashing havoc. We’ve tried firing on it, but nothing’s connecting. It’s impervious. Requesting your advice, sir.”
Travast sighed. “So, my peer, Faso Gordoni, is strutting his stuff. It can be taken down, and I’ll show you how.”
The guard saluted again and ran back up the stairs. Before Travast left, he gave the handle another quick turn, causing a wince from General Sako. “We’ll start dislocating joints when I return.” He gave me a cursory glance before running up the stairs.
Roars came from outside and I could sense Velos was nearby too. Machine guns sputtered in the distance. I sang a dragonsong to keep Velos calm and to thank him for being brave, and Taka soon joined in. The skittering of tiny automaton feet soon joined the loud chorus, and Ratter emerged at the bottom of the stairs, glowing green with secicao power.
The automatons turned their massive cannons towards him. But Ratter hissed and scurried up the wall and along the ceiling. The massive automatons tried to track Ratter with their guns, but they moved far too slow. Ratter dropped onto the head of the first automaton and then edged down its back, and bit into something. The automaton collapsed to the floor. Meanwhile, the second had a massive fist raised over Ratter, bringing it down fast.
But the tiny automaton darted between the legs of its gigantic cousin. There were two cables loose on the back, connected to a green glowing power core. Ratter wrapped his teeth around one of these cables and pulled it out. The automaton dropped its arm first, then it fell sideways, letting out a tremendous crash.
I remained silent a moment, half expected a guard to come down the stairs with his rifle drawn.
“Blunders and dragonheats, Ratter, is that you?” General Sako said. “I never thought I’d be so pleased to see you here.”
Ratter was already at the top of rack, chewing at the ropes tied around General Sako’s wrists. It freed them and then scurried to the bottom and worked on the ties at the general’s legs. Once free, the older man sat up, stretched, and threw his arms around in windmills a few times. Meanwhile, Ratter scrambled over to us and clambered up the bars of the cell door, towards the automatic lock. It opened its mouth, and a spark shot out from the back of its throat. The lock whirred, and the door clicked open.
Ratter blowtorched the cuffs off our wrists and fetters off our feet. He rushed over to Taka’s cell to free him too, and while he worked, I walked over to General Sako.
“What’s going on?” I asked. “How did you get captured and how the dragonheats did Ratter get here?”
The general’s face went white, and he shook his head. “They ambushed us while we were marching forward. One moment, the terrain looked barren. Then all around us, war automatons jumped out of the ground. Thousands of them. They shot down all our troops and the Greys. We didn’t stand a chance. Then that hologram of Indorm rucked up on his floating platform and he shot me with some sedative dart that knocked me out cold.”
I clenched my teeth. “They planned this. Travast Indorm lured us into a trap.”
“Yes, well. It’s lucky Faso and Winda went out foraging for some herbs they said they needed. I left them with Lieutenant Candiorno as an escort. It looks like they’re orchestrating this entire escape plan, bless them. What happened to the other men?”
“Also killed.”
The features on General Sako’s face fell. “So, it’s just us then.”
I nodded. “Once we get out of here, we must either retreat or call for reinforcements.”
“I vote for the latter. I saw some of the factory as they brought me through. And… Well, there are a lot of automatons in here like these two,” he pointed to the massive disabled machines.
“Then we must escape.”
“Agreed,” General Sako said, and he indicated the staircase.
I turned to the lieutenant. “Come on, Talato. Let’s find our way out while we still have a chanc
e.”
General Sako led the way up the staircase, with Lieutenant Talato, Taka and I following closely behind.
18
General Sako had some idea of how factories worked, having run one himself, and so he seemed to know his way around. He took us through a network of narrow corridors, flanked with heavy brass doors that were sealed shut. After a while, we arrived at a much larger set of double doors.
“You should see this,” he said. “They marched me through here after I’d got captured.”
And he opened the doors, revealing a gigantic room containing zigzagging conveyor belts that trundled over a complex arrangement of whirring cogs and gears. Out of the right side of the room, a conveyor belt carried incomplete automatons, each with two enormous feet, bulky bodies, and Gatling guns four times the size as those on Velos’ armour. Their arms looked like they could knock down walls. Further along the assembly line, hooks lowered down from the ceiling, attaching heavy plates on to their bodies and installing various components.
Also, those cables that Ratter had pulled out of the automatons back must have been a design flaw. Because, further down the line, a hook lowered thick metal guards onto each automaton. It placed them with precision over each machine’s visible cables. A little further still, a huge gear spun on the ceiling, attached to a welding tool on a pole. This moved in a tall and precise elliptical motion to secure each shield-guard in place.
“Faso was wrong,” General Sako said. “It looks like they have developed a new type of technology. They look a bit like ogres.”
And I thought Ogres a rather apt name, given their clumsy but brutal appearance, as if they’d be able to crush anything that got in their way.
Though the factory was running like clockwork, it was also under construction. A steel walkway passed overhead, on which I could see bare human feet scurrying around. They belonged to the slaves, who wielded wrenches, hammers, and screwdrivers, which they used to repair and install equipment on the roof. Others hefted great mechanical arms – the kind that attached to the claws and soldering irons – on their shoulders, in lines of three to five.
Dragonseers and Airships Page 76