by Drew Wagar
Mel!
She was crying with pain, an arrow protruding out of her chest. Coran pulled another out of his shoulder and knelt down beside her. Blood was flowing freely.
‘You’ve got to …’ she gasped, choking.
Coran shook his head.
‘Not leaving you,’ he said. ‘Not ever.’
She raised her arms, gesturing for him.
He hoisted her up, holding her as gently as he could. Both peered over the remains of the wheelhouse and through the flames.
Of Fitch, Daf and Creg there was no sign. Both Taloon ships were in pieces, ablaze. They could see a few men struggling in the water. The front hull of the Mobilis was nothing more than twisted wreckage, sinking as they watched, aflame all the way down to the waterline.
Coran braced both of them as Mobilis tilted forward, sea water surging towards them up the twisted decks. The ship’s structure groaning as its stern reared up behind them.
As he watched, the remains of the forward decks submerged, the ship settling in the water.
Coran turned to look at Mel, pulling her close to him as water rose around their feet, struggling against the tilt. The flames hissed out around them, replaced with thick black smoke and jets of steam.
‘Fitch was right,’ he said, looking into her eyes. ‘There’s stuff I should have told you.’
Mel smiled at him.
‘I knew.’
* * *
Meru watched in horror as the Mobilis rammed into the Taloon vessel. He saw Fitch, saw Daf and Creg nearby, saw the light and realised what Fitch was going to do.
‘Fitch, no …’
Flame and smoke erupted from the forward deck of Mobilis, the conflagration rising into the sky and blotting out everything. A wave of air rattled the flying machine, jolting it around wildly before Meru managed to get it under control.
By the time he had done so and turned the machine back the smoke was clearing, drifting aside from the ruined forward hull of the Mobilis. He banked the machine around to get a better view. Zoella was staring out of the windows in horror.
Both of the Taloon ships were nothing more than smashed timbers. The Mobilis was going down by the bow, its stern rising up into the sky, the twin propellers still spinning in opposite directions, their blades flashing in the light of Lacaille as the ship tilted.
‘No … Coran … Mel!’ she screamed. ‘Get out …’
Neither Zoella nor Meru could turn their eyes away as they saw the wheelhouse submerge, water cascading into the engine room housings and hatchways. Plumes of thick black smoke belched from the ship. There was no sign of Coran or Mel. Water spurted from the decks in huge sprays; planks and panels snapped and twisted as they were blown out from below, spiralling into the air before crashing down on the surface of the sea. Crackles of ’tricity flickered around the hull before fading away.
The Mobilis’ propellers shuddered to a stop as the stern rose vertically in the water. For a moment the ship hung there, unmoving, as if resisting its final plunge.
Then it went down in a hiss of spray and a groan of tortured metal. Bubbling froth erupted around the beleaguered ship before it finally slipped below the waves.
The surface of the sea churned and then was still.
The Mobilis and her crew were gone.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Airea, Capital of Taloon
Round 2307, Tenth pass
Waves were lapping at the beach, crystal clear waters sloshing up a sloped white-sand shore. A hundred hands inland a machine stood on a tricycle undercarriage, stubby wings protruding from each side, a number of curious dents in its fuselage. A track carved in the sand indicated it had come down hard and gouged a path before it had come to rest. Down its flank, doors were open.
Collapsed in the sand, three figures were crouched together, heads bowed.
Zoella was sobbing, her head down, her hair fallen forward. Meru sat alongside, his head was also lowered and he was turning a battered widebrimmed hat around and around in his hands. Kiri sat next to him, hunched up, staring into the distance, her face pale and haggard, one arm entwined with his.
Lacaille was bright above them, its face clear of the spots that had plagued it in recent passes. Their shadows stretched across the sand, the heat intense.
The three of them sat there for a spell or more, unable to frame words or thoughts.
‘It not possible,’ Kiri whispered. ‘That ship was so big … so strong … no one got out?’
Kiri hadn’t seen the Mobilis founder. She’d been unconscious in the rear of the flying machine.
Meru and Zoella didn’t answer, the image of the sinking ship that had been their home burnt into their minds, the loss of their friends too shocking to accept.
‘It can’t be true,’ Zoella managed to say. ‘It just can’t.’
‘Zoella …’ Kiri began.
‘We shouldn’t have come back through the storm so soon,’ Zoella said, wiping at her tears. ‘We should have waited … fixed the ship better …’
‘It was Coran’s decision,’ Meru countered. ‘He was the captain … he made the call …’
‘But we forced him,’ Zoella said. ‘All our talk of taking on the priestesses … those stupid plans! The priestesses didn’t know where we were. We could have waited!’
Kiri shook her head. ‘And risk letting them invade Amar unchallenged? No …’
‘We could have taken more time,’ Zoella said, leaning forward and fixing Kiri with a frown. Kiri shook her head.
‘No,’ Kiri said. ‘Coran was right, we had to check whether they were ready. But we came out of the storm too near to Airea …’
‘We shouldn’t have come out there at all,’ Zoella continued. ‘Why were we there? We should have been further out at sea.’
‘It was an accident,’ Kiri answered.
Zoella turned on Kiri. ‘Accident … yeah. If we’d been further out then Rihanna wouldn’t have known we were there, we might have had time to get everyone off!’
‘We didn’t have any choice where we ended up,’ Kiri snapped, her expression hardening. ‘And it’s not my fault she sensed us … what are you saying? That I deliberately gave us away?’
‘Well, did you?’ Zoella cried, glaring at her. ‘It was real convenient she was there …’
‘How dare you …’
‘Stop it!’ Meru shouted before Zoella could reply, holding up his hands, palms outwards. ‘Both of you. This isn’t helping.’
Kiri subsided, but Zoella threw off Meru’s arm, got to her feet and stomped off.
‘Zoella …’
She ignored him and flung herself down into the sand a few paces away, her back to them both, her arms wrapped around her knees, head down. They could hear her sobs.
Meru went to follow her, but Kiri stopped him.
‘Don’t.’
‘But …’
‘Let her be,’ Kiri said, her voice soft. ‘All she needs is a bit of space … and some time.’
Meru sighed. ‘There isn’t time. We can’t stay here. If we’re found …’
‘I know,’ Kiri said. ‘But we … we can’t go on right now. We’re all broken … hurting … There’s no food, no water …’
Meru put down the hat and rubbed his forehead.
‘We should have been able … to get …’ he stuttered. ‘Get everyone off before the ship sank … if I’d …’
‘You can’t blame yourself for what went wrong,’ Kiri said. ‘You got us out. We’re alive. I’m grateful for that.’
Meru looked across at her.
‘If we’d just had a bit more time,’ he said. ‘We could have saved everyone, maybe even the ship too.’
‘Meru … you mustn’t blame yourself.’
‘They took me in you know,’ he said, ‘after my own ship sank. I would have drowned if they hadn’t found me. Coran was … more of a father to me than mine ever was. Mel taught me everything I know about these machines. Fitch … well, took a while to get alon
gside him but …’
He raised Fitch’s hat and turned it around again, as if looking for something.
Kiri squeezed his arm. ‘They were good people. They took me in too … and you know they really didn’t have to. I’ll always remember that. Always be thankful.’
Meru shook his head, looking up at the distant horizon for a moment. He looked around at her. ‘I don’t even know Coran’s favourite food, or Mel’s favourite music … or where Fitch came from … Daf and Creg … I hardly knew them … hardly even talked to them! You just think people are always going to be there so … I should know … they were …’
His voice broke. Tears streamed, hot and scalding, down his cheeks. He sobbed. Kiri put her arms around him and pulled him close. She let him cry, her own eyes filled with tears.
‘You remember I told you about Charis?’ Kiri asked after his cries subsided. ‘I didn’t know her long, not really … just a few passes. She taught me everything, everything I value now anyway. For a long time I thought she was wrong, stupid, boring … she’d have been so upset with some of the things I did afterwards, but … I never forgot her. I can still hear her, her soft voice, calming me down, setting me straight. They’re really not gone you know …’
Meru looked up at her and nodded. Kiri kissed him on the forehead.
‘Remember the best of them,’ Kiri said. ‘It’s the only way.’
Meru swallowed and nodded.
‘You’re right,’ he said, wiping at his eyes. ‘And you stopped that priestess …’
‘Rihanna,’ Kiri said with a shudder. ‘Only just …’
‘But you did,’ Meru said. He looked over to Zoella. ‘We’d better …’
Kiri nodded, standing up and helping him to his feet.
They both walked over to Zoella. She turned to look at them as they approached.
‘I’m sorry,’ Zoella said. ‘That wasn’t fair of me.’
‘It’s alright,’ Kiri began.
‘It’s not,’ Zoella said. ‘The rage … it’s still there. It flares up so fast … I don’t want to hurt people and I keep …’
‘I know,’ Kiri said, crouching down next to her. Zoella pulled her into an embrace.
‘I didn’t mean it …’
Then Zoella was sobbing. Kiri held her tight.
‘I can’t lose any more people,’ Zoella cried. ‘I just can’t bear it …’
Meru sat down alongside, putting his arms around both of them. They stayed that way until Zoella’s sobs subsided and she pulled back, wiping her eyes.
‘It’s just us three now,’ Meru said, looking at them. ‘We’re all that’s left. It’s up to us.’
‘What are we going to do?’ Zoella said. ‘We can’t go on alone.’
‘We have to,’ Kiri replied, her voice resolute. ‘Rihanna’s gone, there’s only Nerina now. We can still stop her. We have to.’
‘More fighting,’ Zoella said, wiping at her face. ‘More death … but how many more of us are going to die before this is finished? Our friends …’
Meru squeezed Zoella’s arm.
‘Kiri’s right,’ he said, his voice soft. ‘Our friends … they allowed us to escape, bought us time. We can’t waste the chance they gave us. This wasn’t the plan … so we need a new one.’
‘Nerina will know about me now … about us,’ Kiri said, leaning forward to look at Zoella. ‘Rihanna would have told her before she tried to take us.’
‘What will she do?’ Zoella asked.
Kiri thought for a moment. ‘She’ll try to find us. It won’t be long before she finds out Rihanna’s dead, if she doesn’t know already. She’ll fear one of us has taken Rihanna’s gift, assume we’ll challenge her. Every priestess will be searching for us.’
‘Can she sense where you two are?’ Meru asked, looking at Kiri and then Zoella.
‘She’s done it before,’ Zoella said.
‘Then we have to assume she knows,’ Meru replied.
Zoella swallowed. ‘But I stopped her last time. Maybe we can confuse her, keep her in the dark.’
‘I can block her too,’ Kiri said, glancing at the flying machine. ‘At least for the moment. Safest to assume we can’t stay still though. Better to keep moving.’
Meru thought for a moment.
‘We still need time,’ he said. ‘If we go straight to Viresia now Nerina will attack before we’re ready. We’ve got to get the ships from Amar, reinforcements … without the priestesses knowing about it.’
‘So?’ Kiri asked.
‘Caesar,’ Meru said. ‘We have to get to Caesar. We can contact Amar on the way and tell them … tell them what …’ Meru wasn’t able to finish the sentence. He turned Fitch’s hat around in his hands again.
‘Will they come?’ Zoella asked.
‘They have to,’ Meru answered, gesturing to the flying machine. ‘Come on, we’ve got to get this thing fixed …’
A loud trumpeting call sounded behind them. All three of them turned and gasped.
Further inland they could see two enormous beasts lumbering towards them. They were huge, ponderous creatures with long necks. After a moment, a series of armed men could be seen accompanying them.
‘What are those?’ Meru asked, his mouth falling open.
‘Phaunts,’ Kiri said, swallowing. ‘Those are the men of Taloon. They’ve found us!’
* * *
It cannot be!
Nerina blinked, her eyes struggling to focus on the empty hall of the priestesses’ temple. Around her the dish-shaped oil burners still carried their flames. She was alone.
Rihanna, you fool!
Nerina slammed her fists down on the table before her. The thump echoed around the room.
The priestesses in Taloon were lost.
Rihanna dead … Taloon and Scallia at risk … and trouble here in Viresia. Why can they not just follow orders as directed? Fools!
Nerina paced around the hall, stepping on the sand-coloured tiles beneath her feet.
All of this was bad enough, but then the real shock coursed through her mind, almost impossible to countenance.
Kiri lives!
Nerina’s mind was awhirl. Kiri had flung herself into the churning waters of Amar at the battle, drowned, so she had assumed. There had not been the faintest suggestion via the nexion that she had survived.
Even if she did, the Amarans should have killed her. She was their enemy. How can she have lived?
Rihanna’s last communication had indicated that the mysterious maid, Zoella, they had seen in Viresia and Amar was with her. Somehow Kiri and Zoella had overpowered Rihanna and her other priestesses. Rihanna was gone.
And now they could be anywhere! Where would they go, what do they intend?
Nerina turned around, her cloak billowing outwards with the movement.
I know what Kiri will want. Vengeance! I know her well enough. The schemes, the arrogance, the determination and single-mindedness; I taught her after all. She has taken down Rihanna. She seeks to challenge me. She still schemes to be Empress! The slum-girl! The guttersnipe! What will she do? Surely she cannot hope to come to Daine and confront me here? Has she taken Rihanna’s gift? What of the maid? How powerful are they now?
Nerina paced. There were too many unanswered questions.
Regardless, I will need more strength to overcome her. With Rihanna gone …
She strode to the door, pulling the rope that rang the summoning bells.
The door opened and a servant walked in, bowing low.
Nerina looked down upon her.
‘Send for Priestess Merrin,’ Nerina said. ‘I must speak to her immediately.’
* * *
Kiri, Meru and Zoella were surrounded by the armed men. There was no escape, there were at least thirty of them, all armed with vicious looking pikes. The phaunts stood further back. The three companions held their hands up.
A man, cloaked, leapt down from one of the phaunts and made his way towards them, pushing through the ranks of soldi
ers.
‘So,’ he said, his face still in shadow beneath his cowl. ‘You live after all, priestess Kiri. They told me you had perished.’
Zoella and Meru looked at Kiri and then at the stranger. He lowered his cowl.
‘Vandare!’ Kiri exclaimed.
‘You know him?’ Meru asked.
‘Yes, we’re acquainted,’ Vandare said to Meru before turning his attention to Kiri. ‘I watched your altercation with our Queen with interest. Speak carefully as your next answers will determine both your fate and those of your companions.’
Kiri frowned. ‘Queen? What queen?’
‘Queen Rihanna,’ Vandare replied.
‘She was your queen?’ Kiri asked, her face a mask of surprise. ‘But … Karquesh?’
‘Slain in your attack against Amar,’ Vandare said. ‘Rihanna was installed by your high priestess, flouting our traditions and lineage. You are the last of them.’
‘Last?’ Kiri asked. ‘Last what? Last priestess?’
‘It seems they were slain during the attack on your ship,’ Vandare said. ‘They failed to come back, all three of them.’
‘Wait,’ Meru said, pushing forward. ‘Only three? Where are the others?’
‘Gone,’ Vandare said. ‘Some trouble back in Drayden so it would seem. The others were summoned home.’ He looked at Kiri. ‘And with your death … the last of them will be gone. Taloon will belong to its people once more.’
The men about them readied their pikes.
‘She’s not with them,’ Meru said. ‘We’re fighting to stop the priestesses! We’re from Amar.’
‘From Amar?’ Vandare said, stepping forward.
‘The priestesses and your fleet attacked our homeland,’ Meru said.
‘So we have you to thank for the destruction of our fleet,’ Vandare said. He signalled to the soldiers around him. They raised their pikes.
‘Stop it,’ Zoella said, stepping forward between Kiri and Meru. ‘Enough people have died these past stretches, let’s not add more to this stupidity.’
‘And who are you?’ Vandare demanded.
‘I am Zoella, a princess of Scallia,’ Zoella said, straightening to look Vandare in the eye. ‘Exiled by the priestesses from my own homeland. They attacked and razed my city. I know well their wrath!’