Voyages of the Flying Dragon

by Ben Chandler

Missy startled. ‘What, sorry?’

  Tenjin smiled at her. ‘It is a lot to take in, I know. These simple exercises will help prepare your body for the influx of Raikō’s power. I will leave you to study them in your own time. Now, as for the … ah … negative effects of the Quillblade, that is much harder to control. You must learn to direct only a small amount into the shintai and learn how to draw out only what you need. We won’t even begin talking about that until you’ve read through these.’

  Tenjin reached under his desk and pulled out three large volumes. There was a blue one, a green one, and a red one. Each was as thick as her wrist.

  ‘It’ll take me forever to read all that!’ Missy cried, and then hurried on, ‘I mean, I’ve never learned how to read Shinzōn.’

  ‘Truly?’ Tenjin stroked his beard before placing his hands inside his sleeves. ‘I had not considered that. Still, given your talents as a communicator, I am sure you will pick it up quickly.’ He opened the green volume and pointed to the first symbol. ‘This character represents shi.’

  Missy groaned inwardly as she bent down to follow Tenjin’s finger, which ran down the page, pointing out each squiggle as he explained its meaning. Learning to use the Quillblade was going to take more effort and a lot more time than she had thought.

  After Lenis checked on the Bestia and Suiteki, who was of course hungry but not quite starved enough to leave the pool of warmth shed by the Bestia, he sought out Yami and asked if they could continue his training. He tried to time it so that Shujinko would be busy helping Hiroshi in the kitchen, and in this he was successful. Yami agreed to his request and they spent the next couple of hours sparring together on the Hiryū’s forecastle. It was literally the furthest place away from Missy that Lenis could get on the Hiryū, but he tried not to think of it that way. Instead, he lost himself in the rhythms of striking and blocking, dodging and counterstriking. It wasn’t a relaxing way to spend an evening, but he felt better for it.

  ‘Might I suggest, Lenis,’ Yami said after he had finished his last set of movements, ‘that we take this opportunity to avail ourselves of the hospitality of our Heiliglander hosts?’

  ‘Sorry?’

  ‘You smell, and I would like a bath.’

  Lenis wrinkled his nose and tried to remember the last time he had taken one. Surely it hadn’t been as long ago as Nochi. Why was it he could remember the exact moment he had last washed the Bestia or cleaned out their hutch but couldn’t quite seem to recall his last bath? When he caught a whiff of himself he supposed it had been at least as long ago as Nochi, and he was a little rank. ‘Oh, okay.’

  He followed as the Shinzōn swordsman walked down onto the airdock and asked after a bathhouse. They were told there weren’t any public bathhouses in town, but there was an inn on the next street over where they could probably find some hot water.

  Together they moved down the airdock and crossed the street. Lenis hoped Shujinko had washed out the crews’ clothes. The last thing he wanted was to have to wear filthy robes once he got back to the Hiryū. When they reached the inn, Yami handed over a few coins, which bought them some clean towels and an escort from the landlord himself to the back room. There were three tubs inside. One was already occupied.

  ‘Shujinko!’ Lenis cried. ‘What are you doing here?’

  The cabin boy looked as if he was about to snap a reply, when he noticed Yami standing behind Lenis. ‘Mister Hiroshi granted me an hour of shore leave.’

  Lenis suppressed a sigh. The last thing he needed while he was trying to relax was Shujinko’s animosity battering at his senses. He selected the tub furthest away from the cabin boy, turned his back, disrobed, and climbed quickly into the tub. The water was hotter than he had expected, and he had to stifle a shout, but once he settled in it felt good on his chilled skin. Lenis closed his eyes and dunked his head under before scrabbling furiously at his hair. It was so knotted he could barely untangle his fingers from it. He’d have to brush his hair out before he went to sleep.

  Yami was standing next to his tub, pouring water over his head. For reasons Lenis could never quite understand, it was the custom in Shinzō to wash yourself before bathing. He thought it rather defeated the purpose. If you were already clean, why get in the tub at all?

  Lenis grabbed a hank of soap and a rough brush and scrubbed himself until his skin was pink. The grind of the bristles felt incredibly good on his stiff muscles. When he was done he lay back and closed his eyes, trying his best to block out Shujinko’s simmering resentment.

  Shujinko, it seemed, wanted to talk. ‘Did you train today?’

  Lenis sighed. ‘Yes. We just finished.’

  The cabin boy grunted. ‘Have you seen your sister since she woke?’

  Lenis was all too conscious of Yami resting in the tub between them. ‘Not yet.’

  ‘You should. We are all worried for her.’

  Lenis made no reply. Maybe if he remained perfectly still and silent, Shujinko would forget he was there. No such luck.

  ‘How does Suiteki fare?’

  ‘She’s fine.’ What did the boy want to know? She was a baby dragon. She ate and she slept. That was pretty much it.

  ‘Is there any sign of her power emerging on its own?’

  Lenis scowled and leant his face against the edge of the tub. ‘No. Why would there be?’

  ‘I do not know such things, but I thought you might. The captain told me you have a gift for drawing out a Bestia’s power. If the Totem’s power could be awakened naturally in the same way, we would not need the stones and there would be no reason for us to face Karasu.’

  ‘She’s not a Bestia,’ Lenis snapped.’ Are you scared of Karasu or something?’

  Shujinko didn’t rise to the bait. ‘Of course. He is one of Shinzō’s most powerful swordsmen.’

  ‘Humph.’ Lenis reverted to his original tactic, and for a time it seemed to be working. Shujinko kept quiet and Lenis felt himself relaxing.

  ‘What are you going to do about Kanu?’

  Lenis suppressed a curse. Why couldn’t Shujinko just be quiet? ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Will you release him from your service?’

  Lenis sat up in the tub, sloshing water over the side. ‘What are you talking about?’

  Shujinko was regarding him levelly. His resemblance to Namei was even more pronounced with his hair wet around his face. They might have looked the same, but Shujinko was nothing like his cousin.

  ‘Neither you nor your sister seem to know what to do with him,’ the cabin boy said. ‘It would be better to release him, I think.’

  Lenis felt the blood rush to his face. ‘Is that what you think?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well, it wouldn’t do any good.’

  ‘Why not?’

  Lenis tried to decide how to phrase it. Shujinko could probably never understand how important the Titan boy’s role as Mashu’s servant was to him. Maybe no one could without Lenis’s empathic gifts. Finally, he said, ‘Because he wouldn’t leave. He can’t. And even if he could, where would he go? All of his family – all of his people – are long dead.’

  ‘So he’s your slave.’

  The water in Lenis’s tub suddenly felt icy. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘If you won’t release him and he cannot leave, that makes the boy your slave.’

  Lenis surged to his feet, unmindful of the fact he was stark naked. ‘You don’t know anything! Kanu isn’t a slave. He’s … well, he’s not like you or me. He isn’t human. He’s something else. But he isn’t a slave. You don’t know anything about slavery, you spoilt little –’

  ‘Lenis.’

  Lenis had completely forgotten about Yami. ‘Sir Yami, I –’ As he turned to face the swordsman he slipped and fell backwards out of his tub, sending water flying across the room. His legs caught on the edge and he banged his head painfully against the wall behind him before sprawling on the floor.

  ‘Are you all right, Lenis?’ Yami called.

  L
enis heard him rising out of his tub and groped desperately around for a towel. He was all too aware he was lying naked on the floor. His hand found his robe, which he wrapped awkwardly around his waist, then he scrambled to his feet. ‘I’m fine.’

  Yami was about to step out of his own tub. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘Yes, I’m fine.’ Lenis stalked out of the bathing room, his cheeks burning with embarrassment and anger, Shujinko’s amusement washing through him.

  Lenis felt the tension building within the Hiryū throughout the whole of the next day. It seemed to pack the close confines of the airship, pressing in on all sides of him. The Bestia were worried, but they kept their distance from him, choosing instead to remain in their hutch. Suiteki stayed with them, buried beneath a pile of their fur with only occasionally a blue scale peeking through. It was as if they could all sense that trouble was brewing, and the only thing the Bestia could think to do to help was somehow shield Suiteki from it.

  It had begun to rain even before they left the airdock. The moisture in the air only increased the stifling atmosphere below decks. Lenis felt suffocated. The heat from the engines made the engine room humid.

  They had passed into the Wastelands in the late afternoon. The Hiryū was high above the tainted ground, but even from this distance Lenis sensed the corruption of the Demons spreading out beneath them. He felt their now-familiar sorrow and the resonance of their rage lingering in the hollows of the lands where they dwelt, as though these were the only emotions left within the empty creatures. The same sensations had assaulted him back in Gesshoku, when he had seen his first Demon.

  So many of them were gathered in the Wastelands below him now, and so close to the Heiliglander border, that Lenis couldn’t help but wonder if this was a part of Ishullanu’s army. Despite the fact that he had seen more of the Wastelands than was good for anyone, his experience with them was still limited. He didn’t know what constituted normal Demonic activity, so he had no way of gauging if the Demon population here was denser than it should have been.

  Lenis hadn’t seen Shujinko or Yami since the incident in the inn’s bathhouse. In fact, he hadn’t seen anyone, which suited him just fine. He didn’t want to have to deal with them. He’d made a fool of himself, and he knew it. The last thing he needed was to feel their mockery, or worse, their sympathy.

  Suiteki had been spending more time in the Bestia hutch and less time in her nest by Hiroshi’s stove, and a part of Lenis knew she was trying to stay close to him, to offer him whatever support she could give. Instinctively, she knew how much he needed her just then. They shared a bond, one that was somehow deeper than the one he had with the Bestia. Lenis had held Suiteki when she hatched, at the moment of her mother’s death. For weeks afterwards she had clung only to him. Lenis cared for all of his charges, but he knew the Bestia could survive without him if they ever needed to – they had proven that back when the Hiryū had washed up on the southern coast of Heiligland – but Suiteki needed him, really needed him, and that made all the difference.

  But even his connection with Suiteki couldn’t cheer him up. Lenis was tired. He had contusions all over his body. His muscles were sore. His ribs hadn’t healed yet. His palms had started to itch from where he had grabbed the Quillblade. He was lonely. He didn’t have anyone to talk to. He missed Namei now more than ever. He missed her laugh. He missed the way she tied her scarf.

  Suddenly, Lenis wanted to be in the forecastle. Once the thought entered his mind, the urge grabbed hold of him and, almost before he knew what he was doing, he was racing up the stairs and across the deck. Namei. She was gone. She had been gone for months now, he realised. But there was something of her left behind. There was a stain in the wood right where Namei had been killed. Her blood had seeped into the decking, and no one had tried to remove it, even when the Hiryū had undergone repairs in Nochi. Once, just after Suiteki had been born, Lenis had gone to the forecastle and felt … something. A connection. A bond between himself and the rest of the crew. He desperately wanted to rekindle that bond, to feel a part of the Hiryū again.

  The rain beat down on his face. It was harder than he had thought it would be. Almost torrential. He slipped as he climbed the stairs up to the forecastle and grabbed the railing to steady himself. This section, he remembered, had been replaced, but there was still a part of his friend up above, behind the dragon figurehead. He stopped when he saw the discoloured wood. This was where Namei had died. This was the last piece of her. Lenis groped after some sense of connection. He opened himself as wide as he could, using his unique gifts to pick up on something, on anything.

  A great sob wracked his whole body. Nothing. There was nothing here. Just the simmering tension that had so suffocated him in the engine room. If anything, it was worse here. Here where he should have been at least partially free of it. Below him, the cook was scolding Shujinko for something. On the bridge, Shin and Kenji were sniping at one another. Even his sister was out of sorts, barely holding in her frustration with Tenjin as the old man tried to teach her something. Lenis had sensed such things before. The crew had spent too long confined on the airship together. The stress was getting to all of them. Petty grievances and small annoyances were festering, feeding upon themselves, growing out of all proportion until something caused them to snap.

  Lenis was too sensitive to such things. The emotions of everyone pushed in on him, infected him, until they became his own. He felt a headache brewing at the front of his skull. He had to get away from it all. He had to be alone, truly alone, but there was nowhere for him to go. Nowhere he could escape it.

  It was almost a relief when he saw the Demon. All of his attention focused on it. The maelstrom of the crew’s emotions was forgotten. There was only the swiftly growing shadow on the horizon, silhouetted against the thin strip of light visible between the clouds above and the mountains below. A flying Demon. From what Lenis had seen and heard they were rare. Perhaps most winged Demons simply lacked the faculties to fly any more.

  As the creature approached, Lenis saw that it was indeed a giant bird. His thoughts turned instantly to Raikō, Lord of Storms. That was one Demon Lord Lenis was keen on facing. All of his pent-up frustration bubbled to the surface now that it had a target. The Thunder Bird and his shintai had caused nothing but trouble, and if this weather was the Demon Lord’s doing, well that was just one more reason to do something about it.

  Dimly, through the roar of the downpour, he was aware of Andrea shouting a warning. He felt the others moving onto the deck. The Demon Lord grew closer. Lenis turned his attention inwards, focusing on the fury that was building inside him. He concentrated it, squeezing it down into a tight ball deep within him, his eyes following the Thunder Bird’s approach. The ball of fury grew stronger, reinforced by Lenis’s frustration. Sweat broke out on his forehead as he concentrated, waiting for the Demon Lord to move closer. The others were approaching the forecastle. Perfect. He drew their simmering resentments into himself, adding them to his seething mass of hatred. Just a little longer. Just a little closer.

  The Demon bird shrieked, but no lightning arced from its wingtips. Instead a great blast of wind swept across the deck of the Hiryū. Lenis staggered back into the railing. He couldn’t see what had happened to the others. His vision had narrowed so much that he could only see the Demon Lord. But something wasn’t right. It didn’t look like Raikō at all. No matter. It was almost within range. Just a little more.

  The Demon Lord stopped, hovering in the air just beyond the reach of Lenis’s power. It opened its beak and shrieked again. Another blast of air. Lenis was already propped against the railing. He let it sweep over him. It stung his eyes and caused them to water, but he didn’t blink. He might only get one chance. Deep inside him, the roiling emotions pushed against his control. What had once been a small ball was beginning to bulge in places as Lenis’s control slipped.

  ‘I am Etana, Lord of Fury!’ the Demon Lord cried. Its voice pierced Lenis’s eardrums like a sharp w
ind. ‘I am the Warden of Retribution!’

  Etana beat his wings and the air around him gathered together into a tempest that swept towards the airship. Lenis reacted on instinct. He drew the surging emotions up and out of himself and threw them at the Demon Lord. They passed through the onrushing hurricane and smashed into Etana. The Demon Lord screeched again, this time in fear, and plummeted out of the sky. Lenis’s victory was short-lived. The mass of tempestuous wind the Lord of Fury had sent towards them struck. The crewmembers were swept up in it and tossed around the deck. Lenis gripped the railing as hard as he could, but he was thrown up and over it to hang suspended in the mighty winds above the deck. He felt as if his arms were being pulled out of their sockets, but he didn’t dare loosen his grasp. Out of the corner of his eye he saw someone heaved into one of the holds, and someone else nearly went over the portside railing but managed to clutch it just in time. Below him he saw Missy and Shujinko huddled within the captain’s outstretched arms in the lee of the forecastle, at least partially shielded from the Demon Lord’s blast.

  And then it stopped. Lenis fell heavily on top of the trio beneath him, his arms too weak to hold onto the railing any longer. For a moment he lay where he was, trying to get air into his lungs as the others scurried out from under him. The whirling winds had settled, but it was still raining heavily. When he could take long, steady breaths, Lenis hauled himself to his feet.

  ‘Is everyone all right?’ the captain shouted. He had climbed up to the forecastle.

  ‘I’m fine!’ Lenis heard Andrea call from up in the crow’s nest. Ironically, even though she was the most exposed of them, she had been safely above the Demon Lord’s attack.

  ‘Me too,’ Shin shouted from where she lay against one of the holds.

  Lenis heard the others call out that they were okay, then looked up at the captain and nodded.

  ‘What about the Geschichte?’ Kenji asked. The navigator had been the one Lenis saw almost thrown over the side. His left hand was clamped over his right shoulder, which fell at a sharp angle that made Lenis think he’d dislocated it. Lenis had come close to that himself.