Voyages of the Flying Dragon

by Ben Chandler

  The third hold, which on the Hiryū housed the landcraft and the winch mechanism used to lower it over the side, was the one full of weapons. A closer inspection revealed nothing more than a collection of knives, swords, spears, and bows with barrelfuls of arrows. Lenis frowned. Karasu’s airship was stocked to cater for a lot of soldiers, and that was not a good thing. Before leaving, he selected the smallest knife he could find and drew the blade. Grinning despite the tension that was building inside him, Lenis quickly sliced through each of the bowstrings. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

  As Lenis approached the fourth hold, Atrum started to weigh down his arms. He was not a large or heavy Bestia, but the strain of holding onto him was beginning to take its toll. Lenis silently cursed himself. All this time he had believed he was getting stronger, and here he was complaining that one of his Bestia was too heavy? He adjusted his grip on Atrum, hugging him closer to his chest, and moved on.

  Inside the fourth hold, Lenis found what he had been hoping for. It was furnished as a passenger cabin, but a brief look told him it was not Karasu’s. Its interior was a haphazard mess of parchment and scientific paraphernalia similar to the contraptions that lined Long Liu’s cabin on the Hiryū. This had to be Chūritsu’s cabin.

  Lenis braced himself and stepped inside. It was entirely possible the Shinzōn scientist had the stones in here so he could do whatever it was scientists did with such things. Experiments of one kind or another, Lenis thought as he crept around the mess on the floor. He was careful not to disrupt anything. Although everything looked as though it was scattered aimlessly around the cabin, it was entirely possible Chūritsu knew exactly where everything was, and Lenis didn’t want him getting suspicious. Then he almost laughed out loud. He was worried about Chūritsu getting suspicious someone had been in his cabin, but he hadn’t thought twice about cutting all those bowstrings?

  Get a grip, Lenis, he thought to himself.

  As he was stepping over an overturned stool, Lenis became aware of people approaching on deck. He wasn’t certain if he heard them or sensed them with his special gifts first, but he knew they were there. He held his breath and forced back the panic that flooded through him. Atrum had remained calm since Lenis had begun searching the airship, and the last thing he wanted was for the Bestia to pick up on Lenis’s fright and start making noises.

  Thankfully, Atrum remained silent. Lenis counted to ten in his head. Whoever was approaching passed by. He waited for another count of ten, every sense available to him searching for signs of anyone else approaching. When he was satisfied he was in the clear, Lenis let out his breath slowly and resumed his search. The strain of remaining immobile had awakened the dull ache in his side. He moved faster now, caring less about making a noise and more about getting done as quickly as possible. When Long Liu’s medication wore off, he wouldn’t be up to much sneaking.

  The search proved futile. There was nothing even made out of stone in Chūritsu’s cabin. Lenis scanned the scientist’s mess once more before leaving. He waited by the doorway, crouched down with Atrum squeezed tight to him, waiting to see if anyone else would walk by. When he was satisfied he was safe enough, Lenis left the holds and moved into the shadow of the forecastle. The hatch leading below decks was invitingly open, but if he went down there he would truly be trapped if he were discovered. There would be less room for him to manoeuvre down there, more chance of bumping against someone in the close confines of the airship’s belly. But what choice did he have? The only other place to go was the crystal-domed bridge, and there was no way he was going to risk that. The rear hatch, too, was out of the question. He wanted to stay as far away from this airship’s Bestia as he could. He didn’t know if they could sense him and Atrum through their cloak of invisibility, and he wasn’t too keen on finding out.

  Lenis steeled himself, breathing as shallowly as possible. He could feel people moving around beneath him, but he couldn’t be certain where they were exactly. He would just have to hug the wall and hope for the best. Giving Atrum one final squeeze, Lenis entered the hatch.

  Missy finished explaining the cave-in to the captain and Yami, then sat down on the cold earth before the sealed tunnel. It had all been a complete waste of time! Karasu had probably already reached the temple of Njord. He might even have discovered Lenis by now! Missy didn’t know how long Atrum could keep Lenis hidden, but he had once cloaked the Hiryū for most of a day. Surely he couldn’t be close to tiring yet. Missy had lost track of time once they’d entered the mine, but judging by how tired she was, Karasu couldn’t have been more than a few hours ahead of them.

  First Lucis and now Terra. If only she’d thought to bring them both along! The Bestia that powered the landcraft was slight and had long legs and a small, bushy tail. He didn’t look like much of a digger, but he had an affinity for earth. Lenis had always told Missy never to judge Bestia by their appearance. Her brother had a knack for drawing out their hidden potential. He had bought and trained Terra for Mistress Kell, a woman with an obsession for racing airships, landcraft, and just about anything else that moved. Under Lenis’s nourishing hand, Terra had flourished, but he had been trained for speed, not excavation. Still, it was worth a try.

  While she had been thinking, Captain Shishi and Yami had been discussing their options. Finally, the captain said, ‘We will have to return to the Hiryū and try to work the engines ourselves –’

  ‘Excuse me, Captain,’ Missy interrupted, ‘but I think the Bestia can dig through this.’

  The captain turned to her, his wild eyebrows dancing wickedly in the wavering light of Heidi’s torch. ‘Are you certain?’

  Missy swallowed the lump in her throat. She was sure this was the only way to get to Lenis, but she didn’t want to lie to the captain. Like you aren’t lying to the people of Fronge so they think you’re a goddess? Missy pushed the errant thought deep into a corner of her mind, but she couldn’t quash it completely. She was suddenly reminded of Lord Butin, the Ostian steward, and how he had used his telepathy to manipulate Crown Prince Alexis like a puppet. The memory caused her to shudder. As always, thoughts of their Ostian foe brought to mind the memory of Namei’s last moments, kneeling before Lord Butin as he ordered her throat to be cut.

  No! This was different. Missy wasn’t Butin. She was only lying to the people of Fronge to get Lenis back.

  To get what you want.

  With an effort, Missy brought her mind back to the captain’s question. ‘No, sir, I’m not sure, but I think we have to try.’

  Captain Shishi nodded. ‘Very well. We will return for the Bestia.’

  The idea of walking all the way back to the Hiryū only to return to this very spot made Missy chafe. If only there was another way! Then she realised, a little sheepishly, that there was. ‘That isn’t necessary, sir. I can call them from here.’

  Which is exactly what she should have done in the first place! Missy detached her spirit-self and went whizzing back up the tunnel. It was dark, and she passed many openings and turnoffs on her way back, but this was a mine after all, not a maze. It was designed to allow swift access for the miners and equally fast removal of their goods, not to confuse and mislead. After a couple of sharp turns her awareness was back in the main shaft.

  Missy raced back to the surface, conscious that the longer she took to reach the Bestia, the greater the chances that Karasu would complete whatever task he had planned for the temple and leave. Would her brother take the opportunity to sneak off Karasu’s airship? Would he have a chance? Missy felt her panic rising again and channelled it into increasing her speed.

  A moment later she broke out of the mine and into the fading light of evening. They’d been underground longer than she had expected. In passing she noticed that her crewmates and the townspeople had been busy setting up makeshift shelters on the northern end of the square and had even started salvaging what they could from the remnants of the morning’s fire. There wasn’t much left for them to save. Ironically, they wou
ld need fire tonight, for although it was spring the mountains would be freezing come nightfall.

  The Bestia were all aboard the Hiryū, waiting for everyone to return. Terra was curled up in the Bestia hutch in Lenis’s cabin, fast asleep. Missy formed the image-messages she needed to communicate with him and gently nudged him awake, her spirit-self pressing against whatever subconscious dream had claimed the Bestia until he noticed she was there and stirred. She kept the message short and basic, as she always did. Simplification was one of the first things Bestia communicators were taught. Lengthy or complicated messages had a way of getting jumbled.

  Three images were enough: Lenis in trouble, the rubble blocking the entrance to Njord’s temple, and Terra digging. As the earth-based Bestia leapt up and out of the hutch, the other Bestia looked after him. Missy thought for a moment and then sent similar messages to all of them. She’d lost enough time because she hadn’t been prepared with Lucis and Terra in the first place. She may as well bring them all along in case something else sprung up once they were inside the temple. Assuming Terra could dig them a way in.

  Lenis emerged into the galley, one shoulder pressed against the inside of the airship’s hull. It was eerie, stepping out into a place so like the inside of the Hiryū and yet strangely different. The layout was the same, but there was a woman standing in front of Hiroshi’s stove, and the doorway leading to Long Liu’s cabin was open, revealing yet more stored provisions instead of an infirmary.

  The female cook had her back to him, so Lenis stepped cautiously out of the corridor and into the mess hall. He could see the mast-shaft through the exit on the other side of the hall. It wasn’t that far away, and Lenis was invisible, but dread overwhelmed him as he began creeping towards it. What was he doing? How did he think he was going to get away with this? It wouldn’t take much – a sharp breath, a scuffed step – and the cook would hear him and turn. She might not notice him immediately, but her suspicions would be aroused and a search would soon follow. It wouldn’t take long to find him, even under Atrum’s cloak.

  Step by slow step, Lenis made his way across the galley, barely daring to breathe. Each movement was agony; each one was carefully considered and precisely executed. Six paces and he was barely into the room. Another six and he was fully committed. There was no way he could retreat in a hurry now without drawing attention. Another six and he was in the middle of the galley. He felt completely exposed. What if Atrum’s cloak failed? What if the Bestia tired and left them both standing, completely visible and with nowhere to hide? Lenis willed Atrum to be strong. He put his trust in his Bestia and forced himself to move on. Six more paces. Six more steps. Only six more and he would be safe. Well, at least as safe as he could be, given the circumstances.

  The cook said something suddenly in Shinzōn. Lenis froze. Every instinct told him to run, but he didn’t. The woman spoke again. Lenis inched his neck around to look back at her. How had she seen him? What had given him away? But she had not been speaking to Lenis. Someone had come down via the forward hatch and was standing right behind Lenis, who had been so caught up in staying silent he had forgotten to keep his awareness alert for anyone approaching. If Lenis had delayed his foray across the galley any longer, he would have been discovered! He was so relieved he nearly broke into a run again, but he forced himself to remain perfectly still. Whoever had come from the fore hatch said something to the cook, who snapped a reply. There was a grunt, and Lenis heard the person retreat. The cook muttered to herself as she turned back to the stove.

  The relief made Lenis giddy. He tried to stifle it. He was far from safe, and far from completing his self-assigned mission. He needed to find the stones, and he came to realise the only place where they could be. In Karasu’s cabin. In the captain’s cabin. Lenis forced himself to move on, slower than ever, his heart beating so fast he was afraid the cook might hear it from across the hall.

  Missy stared in open-mouthed disbelief as Terra tore through the rubble blocking the passage. She had expected he would use his delicate front legs to dig away at the earth, and she had even prepared to dig right alongside Terra. Instead, he was eating the dirt and rock in front of him. His canine mouth snapped at the debris, pulling large chunks of it free and gulping it down. But he was so small! Where was it all going? The tunnel was filled with the low thrum of Bestia power Missy had always associated with machinery, but maybe the noise and vibration had never come solely from the machines but from the Bestia themselves.

  It was easy enough to see the reactions of the others. Lucis perched in the tube overhead, giving off a bright white light. Yami and the captain watched Terra intently, but they didn’t seem surprised. Perhaps because they knew so little of Bestia power in the first place, they just took things as they came, but Heidi seemed as amazed as Missy was. Missy had seen Bestia do all sorts of things. Ignis generated fire. Aeris played with the wind. Lucis gave off light. Aqua could find and even freeze water. Atrum, perhaps most amazingly of all, could make things invisible. But she had never seen a Bestia absorb earth before. She wondered if other Bestia might possess powers she hadn’t even considered. Had she become so used to thinking of them only as parts of a machine that she had forgotten they were powerful before machines were even invented? The thought shamed her. Lenis would never think of a Bestia like that, she was sure. Somehow he saw them for what they really were. It was part of what made him such a great Bestia Keeper. It was how he was able to draw out their hidden powers.

  Missy looked at the other Bestia, all focused on Terra’s progress, and wondered what they would have been like if they had never been hooked up to a machine. Memories came back to her of when she and her brother had first met Aeris back in Pure Land. She had been a wild Bestia and used to play with the twins in the long grass around Blue Lake. She’d make the wind chase them through the tall stalks, or make the leaves dance on the surface of the lake. When was the last time Aeris had played like that? When was the last time any of them had?

  ‘Perhaps it is time we followed the Bestia,’ the captain suggested, breaking into Missy’s reminiscences.

  Missy looked into the opening Terra had created. The Bestia had already disappeared from view. ‘I think you’re right. We’ll have to crawl to fit through, though.’

  ‘What wisdom forbids, Miss Clemens, necessity dictates.’

  Missy nodded and reached up to let Lucis out of the light tube. The Bestia climbed eagerly into her arms and then leapt down into the tunnel to follow Terra. They were all suddenly thrown into darkness until Heidi relit her torch.

  ‘I will go first, in case there is trouble,’ the captain said over his shoulder as he knelt down. ‘Sir Yami, will you bring up the rear to ensure we are not followed?’

  As Yami nodded, Missy wondered who the captain was referring to, and then she remembered Karasu’s men had escaped into the burning ruins of Fronge. She had thought they meant to escape her and the strange power she wielded, but perhaps they had been sneaking off to ambush them later. They could even be hiding out somewhere in these mines. The thought made her shiver.

  Missy followed Captain Shishi into Terra’s tunnel. She could see his shadow ahead, a dark blotch obscuring most of Lucis’s light. On hands and knees she hurried after him.

  It seemed as though Lenis had been below decks for hours when he finally reached the captain’s cabin. He guessed that the day had ended while he had snuck, ever so slowly, by the crew’s cabins. They were all occupied, their inhabitants sleeping or preparing to. Lenis had been very careful not to draw their attention. He might be invisible to their eyes, but they could still hear his boots on the timber of the deck, or his breathing, or even his heartbeat, which seemed to Lenis to grow louder the closer he came to the captain’s cabin. Passing the engine room had been sheer torture. He could sense the thrum of Bestia power, but he couldn’t tell if the Bestia could feel him and Atrum. If they could, they ignored them, but it had made for a harrowing few moments as Lenis tiptoed by the doorway.

&n
bsp; He had expected to hear his sister inside his mind by now, asking for help with the engines, but no such message came. Lenis pushed his panic far down, unwilling to admit what he knew must be true. His sister wasn’t coming for him. He didn’t want to think about why. His trust in the Hiryū’s crew was still new. Only a couple of months before, Lenis had been plagued by the belief that his captain would sell him off, separating him from Missy for good. He thought such fears were behind him. He wanted so badly to believe in Captain Shishi and the rest of the crew, but if they weren’t keeping Missy from reaching out to him, then that meant she wasn’t able to. Karasu had left armed men behind in the square to secure his own escape. There must have been a fight, and Missy still had the Quillblade …

  No! Missy is fine. Something else must have come up! She’s probably helping take care of the townspeople. But the hours passed and still no message came from his sister. In that time Karasu’s airship had not ventured all that far from Fronge. It seemed as though he was looking for something in these mountains, as Lenis could feel the airship weaving backwards and forwards through the peaks, often circling back on itself. He had no idea what Karasu could be searching for. Every time they turned back towards Fronge, his heart beat even faster and he forgot all about the stones, but eventually they would veer off again and Lenis would continue his search, burying his disappointment down with his panic.

  Lenis slipped into the captain’s cabin, which was around behind the stairs leading above decks from the engine room, just as it was on the Hiryū. He saw the crate instantly and moved to lift the lid. It opened easily, and there, nestled in a bed of straw, was a single orb with a dull grey surface. Suddenly, Lenis remembered the altar back in Seisui’s temple in the Wastelands outside of Gesshoku. There had been a depression in that altar that looked as if it could hold a stone like this one. But there had only been one. One altar. One depression. One stone. Back in Asheim, Karasu had boasted to the captain that he had both the stones of ebb and flow. It seemed he had been lying.