I didn’t know what to expect from the rebels, even with Amena’s vague descriptions. I didn’t know what things would be like on the mainland. We’d been flying around for days, but I’d stayed in my bunk with the curtains drawn the entire time and hadn’t bothered to look down. When I looked out of the cockpit, I was shocked.
There was nothing. No buildings, no streets, not even a factory. I couldn’t see very far in the thick haze of smog that tinged the sunlight to an orange-yellow hue. The land stretched out before us in a narrow valley. I’d heard that a lot of the mainland was taken up by farms, but the scraggly plants I saw on the ground couldn’t be food. There were a few trees on the mountains to either side, but this wasn’t a jungle. How could there be so much space with nothing useful in it?
“Why is it so empty?” I asked in a shaky voice. “Did something… bad happen here?”
“Hm?” Amena was standing behind Deryt’s shoulder, looking over the instrument panels. She glanced back and saw my surprised expression. “Oh, no, there’s nothing wrong. The rebels picked a remote area so we could meet safely.” She gestured to the surrounding mountains. “This land is used for grazing llamas and goats. The herds come through here at certain times of the year, but the rest of the time it’s allowed to grow wild.”
I watched the barren land glide past us in silence and tried to imagine what that was like. My whole life, I’d lived in a crowded city, with buildings packed close together. I knew the mainland was different, but I’d pictured it to at least be similar, with miniature versions of my city arranged evenly between neat rows of crop fields. Greener and more spread out than crowded streets, sure, but still full of life. This looked dead.
If there was so much empty land, no wonder the rebels were able to hide from the imperial army. There could be secret bases all over the place. Amena had explained that the rebellion was divided in cells, each one working separately with little communication between them. If one rebel or group was captured by the empire, they wouldn’t be able to say where the others were. She didn’t know how many rebels there were, but the numbers could be huge. My hopes lifted a little for the first time since we’d left Lyndamon.
A building appeared out of the gloom, a simple structure of plain wood with a slanted roof and a fence around it. “What’s that?” I leaned forward.
“Livestock barn,” Amena said with a nod. “That must be where we’re meeting. There’s a water tower over there, see, where you can anchor the airship,” she said, pointing over Deryt’s shoulder.
Deryt nodded and turned the controls. “Prepare to dock.”
Amena gestured for us to get into the seats, and we hurried to buckle ourselves into the restraints.
Janera clipped a safety line onto her belt, then opened the door and leaned out with the anchor cables in her hand, ready to secure the ship.
The airship slowed down to a crawl and tapped the water tower, which had a large metal rod sticking out the top. Janera hopped out and secured the ship, then dropped the rope ladder and held it for us to descend. It swayed a little as we climbed down. A few months ago, I would have been too frightened to climb it. I’d been through so many more dangerous situations that this was nothing.
The ground was regular dirt, but everything else was just so… open. The smog burned my throat and lungs. I shuddered and wrapped my arms around my middle, looking up at the sky and the empty field. It felt like there was someone watching me, but I saw no one.
Janera looked around uneasily, too. None of us had any weapons or armor on, but she hunched in a defensive stance, her arms stiff at her sides. “Are they not here yet?”
Deryt pointed to the barn. “They said they’d be waiting for us inside.”
Uqra landed on Amena’s shoulder, her long green tail trailing down the singer’s back, and Tika settled on me. Her tiny talons dug into my shoulder like pinpricks.
“Let Amena and Deryt do the talking,” Tika said in my ear.
I nodded. I didn’t know what to say.
Deryt approached the front of the barn. The door was huge, a sliding panel in the wall like the entrance to a warehouse, covered in peeling paint. As he approached, the door slid open with a rusty creak.
Two men stood just inside, dressed in worn factory-made clothes, but they each had a pair of polished revolvers holstered on their belts and the left one also had a rifle slung across his back. They looked us over with a stern frown.
Deryt held out his hand and showed a copper star to the guards. They glanced at it and waved him in.
I expected more rebels inside, but the barn looked empty—nothing but a dusty floor and bare walls, with light streaming in through an open window at the far end. Then a rustle of movement caught my attention, and I realized there was a third man, sitting on a barrel off to the side. He was short and pudgy, with thick-rimmed glasses, and he looked more like an accountant than a rebel fighter.
“Nayaraq?” Amena said, walking over to the pudgy man. “What’re you doing here in the Central Province?”
Nayaraq slid off the barrel and dusted off the seat of his pants. Seemed like a hopeless gesture, given the dirty state of the barn. “I rushed all the way out here to meet with you,” he said, covering a weak cough with his arm. “There’s been a lot of discussion about the best way to deal with your… unusual situation. It was finally decided that you should meet with someone you already knew, rather than give you the identities of any local rebels.”
Deryt folded his arms. “Why all the extra precautions? When I moved to Lyndamon City, I already met with—”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Nayaraq yelled over Deryt, waving his hand to cut him off from saying anything else. “No names. I don’t know the local cell and I don’t want to.” He cleared his throat and turned back to Amena. “Honestly, after what you’ve done, no one wanted to meet with you. I came as a personal favor to your mama.”
Amena’s hands flew to her mouth, covering her gasp. “Mama? Is she all right?”
Nayaraq nodded. “She’s fine, except for worrying about you.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and unfolded it, revealing a wanted poster with all of our names and faces, except Deryt’s. “I hope you realize the deep, deep level of trouble that all you kids have gotten yourselves into. This is in every town. You’re considered domestic terrorists for destroying that factory, and you’ll be arrested on sight.”
Amena snatched the poster out of his hand. “Are you kidding me? They’ve identified all of us already?” She squinted at the pictures. “Well, they’ve got a good photograph of me, but the rest of you guys are just rough sketches. I bet it wouldn’t take much of a disguise to keep you from being identified, so long as we stayed out of the city where people know you.”
Nayaraq pointed to the field outside. “Your airship is also very recognizable. As long as you’re in the Graceful Joy, you’ll be easy to track. I’d get rid of that thing and find a place to lie low. For several months.”
Deryt cleared his throat. “Wait, you don’t have a safe house? We need a secure location, new identities, supplies, everything!”
Nayaraq took his glasses off and wiped them with a handkerchief, avoiding eye contact with Deryt. “I’m afraid I have none of those things for you. Your job was to keep a low profile and gather information, nothing more.”
He put his glasses back on and pointed at Amena. “You went off-script months ago when you entered Star Search, but we gave you a second chance to raise public sympathy for our cause. Now you’ve both gone too far, getting yourselves burned by destroying government property, so we can’t help you. And whoever these other kids are,” he said, gesturing to the rest of us, “we don’t know them, but they’re the same as you—too dangerous to associate with the rebellion. Don’t contact us again.”
Deryt took a step closer, looming over the much shorter man. “Don’t you at least want to know what we’ve learned?”
Nayaraq quivered and looked at the floor, but he shook his head. “We have
your reports, including the last one which sounded too fantastical. I don’t have time to hear details. It’s better if you just go.”
“No!” Kyra spoke up for the first time, stepping in front of Nayaraq. “You need to know what’s in that factory! We need to investigate other cities, because I bet Lyndamon wasn’t the only one putting people in danger. I don’t care about all the rules of your secret club, but if you want to help people, then you need to do something!”
Nayaraq looked up at her in surprise. “I’m s-s-sorry,” he said with a shake of his head. “I don’t know what they’ve told you, but we don’t have the resources to take on the Empire directly. We do what we can, but it has to be on the fringes. Their army would wipe us all out!”
I put a hand on Kyra’s shoulder and pulled her back. “Calm down, we won’t convince him by scaring him.” I smiled at the frightened little man. “The gods are on our side. We may not have as many people as the army, but with the power of the gods, we can match their strength.”
Nayaraq stared at me, then let out a nervous giggle. “This is the ‘divine warrior’ you promised would turn the tides?” He shook his head. “Little girl, we’ve tried magic. But nothing can compare to the power of the empire’s goddess—even six gods, as you claim to speak with, are not strong enough to match the sun goddess.” He looked over the lot of us and frowned. “Or I suppose it’s down to five, now?”
“One goddess can stop Chysa.” I opened my locket, showing the silver crystal inside—my godcrystal had changed to Quilla’s color. “Quilla is her sister, and she can bring her down.”
The quivering man gasped. “It’s forbidden to say that name. That goddess is far too dangerous. Even if we were that desperate, she’s been banished for centuries.”
I shook my head. “The empire spreads lies about her. You can speak to her yourself and find out the truth.”
Kyra put her hand on my arm. “Is that a good idea? With your new power, you had… trouble controlling it last time, and it took a lot out of you.”
I nodded. “I won’t do anything too extreme, don’t worry.”
The truth was, I didn’t know what would happen. I’d only called on Quilla’s power once, and it was nothing like the magic I’d learned to use from Sawycha, the sea goddess. With the moon goddess, she was speaking through me last time, and I had little control of the magic. But I would risk it again if it meant winning us more allies.
I closed my eyes and reached out to her with my power, trying to limit how much of my life force I gave up. I just needed to make the connection so I could channel her through me. I felt something very far away, but a wall blocked me. I pushed harder, giving up a little more power.
Tika tensed on my shoulder, digging her talons into me. “Not here! The enemy is—”
“Airship!” one guard shouted, slamming the front door. “An imperial airship is approaching! We’re under attack!”
3
Bionic Witch
Nayaraq whirled around and glared at us. “You’ve led them here!” He waved to the guards. “Come on, we can’t defend against an airship. We’ve got to go!”
The guards drew their guns but ran after him, hurrying to the back of the barn. At first, I thought they were heading for a dead end, but Nayaraq pulled aside a plank of wood in the wall and slipped out. The cowards were running to hide.
I looked at the others. “Our airship is out in the open. Do you think we can make it?”
“And do what?” Deryt shook his head. “Our ship’s not built for a fight. We should head up into the hills where they can’t track us.”
Janera tugged at the barn door. “Yeah, but then we’d have no ship and stranded out here in the middle of nowhere. We need to out-fly them.” Her hand went to her locket, glowing purple as she called on strength from Omer. “We use magic as a weapon on the ground, so why not see how it works in the air?”
Kyra grabbed the door too, and together they slid it the rest of the way open. “It sounds crazy, but I think it’s our best choice. I’d rather go down with a fight.” Her clothes shimmered, shifting into her armor.
Through the door, we could see the sky. Sure enough, there was an enormous warship at the far end of the narrow valley, and it was headed right toward us.
I followed my friends as they raced outside, heading for our airship. I tried to change into my own armor, but again it felt as if something was blocking me. I frowned. Maybe it was better if I saved my strength for the fight.
The rope ladder hung from the open door. Did we leave the whole airship there unsecured, waiting for anyone to climb in and fly away? Lucky that we’d seen the enemy coming. We’d have to be more careful.
Janera and Deryt, with their long legs, made it to the water tower first. Deryt grabbed the bottom of the ladder to secure it, then Janera leaped over him, her divine strength carrying her halfway up the ladder. She sprang the rest of the way. Moments later, the engines roared to life, preparing for take-off.
Amena climbed up next, followed by Kyra. Tika flew off my shoulder and glided up into the airship on her own wings.
I was the last one to reach the ladder. Deryt held it steady for me, waiting on the ground until I’d climbed to the top, and Amena gave me a hand hauling me up in the door.
I scrambled to my feet and looked out the window. The warship was bearing down on us. The huge guns on either side were coming in to view. I wasn’t sure when we’d be in firing range, but it couldn’t be much longer. “Hurry, you guys,” I said. “How can we fight back?”
Janera was also looking out the window, and she frowned. “Guns of that size add a lot of weight, and they’d be hard to balance on this tiny ship.” She looked down at the flight controls. “Maybe if we could rise above them, we could drop bombs?”
“Careful,” Deryt said with a grunt as he hauled himself in the door. “We can’t just change altitude that easily. We’d have to lose some ballast and compensate for the change in air pressure on the envelope…” He scrambled over to the pilot’s chair and continued rattling off technical terms.
Amena unhooked the anchor cables from the water tower, pulled up the ladder, and latched the door. “Imperial warships also have an outer metal casing protecting their balloons. If we attack them, we need to aim at the gondola below, where the crew is.”
My stomach clenched at the thought of shooting at another human being. “But those are people, not machines,” I said, my voice rising in a high-pitched whine. “We can’t hurt anyone, right? We have to slow them down or disable their airship so they can’t follow us.”
“They’re the enemy,” Kyra said with an edge in her tone. She summoned her bow and opened a window, taking a stance to fire out. Wind whistled in through the opening. “Get me close enough and I’ll take them down.”
The coldness in her eyes sent a shiver down my spine. “No!” I shoved her out of the way and closed the window, blocking it with my body. “We can’t hurt anyone, even if they’re trying to hurt us. Janera, you said we could out-fly them. Head for the hills. I’ll use my magic to protect us from their guns.”
“Easier to fly straight than to turn around,” Janera said, and Deryt nudged the airship forward. The ship shuddered as the engines increased their power. We flew toward the hills, picking up speed. The warship slipped from view.
Kyra stepped back and lowered her bow. “You know we’re going to have to fight them at some point, right? We can’t change the empire by talking to them. If they use force, we have to fight back.”
“We can argue our plans for the empire later.” I sat down in a seat and closed my eyes. “Right now, I need to concentrate.”
My theory was that if I could create armor for myself, I could do the same thing for our airship—it was just bigger. I prayed for Quilla to help me protect us and make the airship go faster, too. I didn’t understand how the whole thing worked, but then I didn’t know how my magic worked for anything else, either. Maybe it would just figure things out.
Power flowed through me at my call, nowhere near as much as I’d had the first time I called on the moon goddess. Maybe she wasn’t as strong during the daytime or something? I filed that away with all my other worries. For now, I had to concentrate on shielding this ship.
The magic appeared in my mind’s eye like silver light. I imagined it flowing out of my godcrystal and into the entire airship around me, covering every outer surface. I pictured the shield of light reflecting bullets, or cannon balls, or anything else that the imperial warship tried to shoot at us. We’d fly faster than them, slipping through the air like it was nothing, and leaving them behind in the dust.
I opened my eyes to see if I’d succeeded. There was a faint glow on the outside of the ship, and our speed increased a little, but I couldn’t tell if we were protected. I guess we wouldn’t know until we got hit.
Tika looked out the side. “They’re still gaining on us,” she called. “Can’t we go any faster?”
“Our envelope isn’t rigid like theirs,” Deryt muttered. “If we go too fast, it will bend in the wind.”
Okay, I had to make sure that our ship kept its shape, too. I pictured the fabric of the envelope stiffening like metal. Our speed increased again, judging by the hills rushing by us.
Deryt glanced back at me. “If you can keep holding us together, I might be able to use magic, too.” He let Janera take over the flight controls and pulled out his own godcrystal from a pocket. “I’m not sure what I can do, but I’m not a champion of the sky god for nothing. Sano!”
I closed my eyes again to concentrate better. Sano’s pale blue light flowed around us at Deryt’s call, surrounding the ship. Magic filled the ship’s envelope and lifted us higher. The ship strained against the pressure, but with Quilla’s power I was able to hold it together.
“We’re pulling ahead of them now,” Tika said, her voice rising with excitement. “Keep concentrating! You two might actually pull this off. Yes, over those mountains to the east. They’ll have a hard time gaining the altitude to follow us up there.”
Riwenne & the Bionic Witches Page 2