by Jasmine Walt
“I guess it’s a good thing we’re leaving tomorrow, then,” I finally said. “The assassin, whoever he is, won’t be able to follow us to Leniang Port.”
“True, but we do have to come back here afterward, and there is still the rest of the day and this evening to look forward to.” Iannis’s voice darkened. “I doubt they will try a physical attack again so soon, not with the guard on high alert. But that does not mean they will not try more subtle methods. I will be checking all food and drink that is given to you from now on, for the duration of our stay.”
I frowned. “Don’t you think that will insult our hosts?”
“If they take offense, then so be it. That is a price I am willing to pay for your safety.”
My heart warmed, and I wanted to take his face between my hands and kiss him. But that would be extremely inappropriate during a solemn funeral procession, so I settled for squeezing his hand instead.
During the funeral, I was thankful that Iannis and I could converse by mindspeak, as the next sixteen hours stretched interminably with much sitting, standing, and waiting. We had to listen to recitations of the late Mage-Emperors distinguished lineage and his memorable deeds, in Garaian, and there was no way I could have understood anything without Iannis’s explanations. Not that the recitations were very interesting even when he did translate them. I learned more about Garaian history than I ever wanted to, and the never-ending speeches nearly put me to sleep. The only reason I stayed awake was Iannis, who entertained me with some irreverent anecdotes of the Emperor’s past that the orators conveniently left out.
After the recitation, a troupe of masked actors came out to perform notable scenes from the Emperor’s life. It was difficult to tell which of them were supposed to be male or female, especially since all the parts were played by men, and their voices sounded unnaturally high. After the performance, five long poems chosen out of more than ten thousand submitted by the populace were solemnly read out, each celebrating a different aspect of the dead Mage-Emperor’s long rule. By the time it was over, I was thoroughly sick of all the fervent praise. If I never again heard about the great Emperor’s exploits, it would be too soon.
After the play, we finally got to the actual burial part of the ceremony. The foreign guests, and a much larger number of distinguished Garaian mages and officials, all dressed in white silk just as we were, were arranged around a large oblong pit in the ground, on one end of which a structure like a temple had been erected. In this gigantic hole, the sarcophagus of the late Mage Emperor was placed and surrounded by statues of his family, his guard, his favorite concubines, his pets and horses, and enough treasure to feed a large Garaian city for several lifetimes. Ceremonial gifts from all the guests and delegations were also included. It seemed a terrible waste to bury priceless books, weapons, and jewels with a dead man who had no use for them any longer, and I knew there were thieves who would think the same. This tomb would have to be guarded very well, once it was closed.
“In the past…” Iannis observed to me in mindspeak. “Before the First Mage’s influence made itself felt in Garai, they did not bury statues, but the real people and animals. They used to kill several hundred or more whenever an Emperor died.”
I suppressed a shiver at that, keeping my face carefully blank as the Emperor was finally buried. This funeral was creepy enough without adding extra bodies to it, and I couldn’t wait for it to be over. After all, the sooner we left this ceremony behind, the sooner we could get on with our real mission.
15
“By Magorah, I thought the funeral was never going to end.” Groaning, I flopped onto the bed facedown, too tired to even bother taking off my stiff, white robes. “Can I just lie here for a little while? I’m not ready to face the world again.”
“If you do that, you’ll miss our departure, and will be forced to endure the week of fasting.” Iannis turned me over, amusement twinkling in his tired eyes, and began to work on the ties of my robe. “Besides, you’ll miss all the adventure.”
“True.” My robe fell open, and I purred as Iannis’s warm hands glided over my bare skin. “Oh yeah,” I groaned as his fingers slid behind my neck and began to dig into the knots there. The tension headache drumming at the base of my skull began to melt away. “Maybe I’ll just hire a Garaian masseur to attend to my needs and stay behind after all.”
“You could,” Iannis growled, leaning in and nipping my neck. I gasped at the sharp pleasure-pain, arching into him. “But I’m afraid I’d have to gut him when I returned, and you as well.”
“How romantic.” I pulled open his robe as well, then slid my hand beneath his silk pants. A sharp knock interrupted us just as I closed my fingers around him, and Iannis let out a strangled sound as I squeezed.
“I hope you two are getting ready,” Garrett called through the door. “We’re leaving in half an hour.”
“We’ll be ready,” Iannis called, his voice completely normal even though I was still massaging him. He held his breath until Garrett’s footsteps receded, then let out another low groan of pleasure.
“Much as I’d like to continue this, Garrett is right.” Iannis gently removed my hand from his pants, then backed away. “We don’t have much time. Let’s get ready to leave.”
“Fine,” I grumbled, but only a little bit, then threw off the remainder of my outfit and dressed in my leathers. I did my best to ignore Iannis as he changed into a set of black robes, knowing that if I spent too much time staring, I’d want to jump his glorious, naked body despite Garrett’s warning. Instead, I strapped my weapons on and double-checked my pouches to make sure they were stocked with the charms and snacks I always carried. I pulled the small pack out of our luggage that I’d brought along for the trip south, and double-checked it as well to make sure I had enough clothing and supplies. We were only supposed to be gone a week, but I packed extra just in case—you never knew what might happen.
With our packs tightly secured on our backs, Iannis and I went out to the common area in the center of the pavilion, which was furnished with exquisitely carved furniture, colorful couches, and incredibly soft rugs. The Minister and Garrett stood in the center of the room, conversing in low tones, but they fell silent and turned to us as we approached. Garrett too was dressed in dark robes, but the Minister was still wearing the stiff, white ceremonial garb from the funeral. The pilot, Henning, stood off to the side, waiting patiently. The sight of him wearing a long, double-breasted pilot’s jacket and flying goggles sent a bolt of excitement through me, reaffirming that we were truly beginning our adventure.
“Lord Iannis, Miss Baine.” The Minister nodded to us both gravely. For once, there was not a hint of censure in his eyes as he looked at me. “You are both ready to depart?”
“Yes. We are just waiting on Director Chen.” Iannis nodded toward Chen’s room. The door slid open, and Director Chen stepped out. Her long, fine hair was tied back from her face in a high knot, and she looked very inconspicuous in her black robes, which was quite a change from the usual bright-colored silks she liked to wear. She’d even foregone makeup, and I was surprised at how much younger, and less intimidating, she appeared without it.
“All done,” she said firmly, her shoulders squared as she adjusted her pack. “Is our transportation ready?” she asked Garrett.
“Yes. It’s waiting in the inner courtyard.”
We stepped out into the balmy evening air, onto the porch that ringed the small courtyard built in the center of our pavilion. I wasn’t entirely certain how the servants had managed to sneak the aircraft in, but there it was, its metal body gleaming in the waning moonlight as it crouched like a giant bug in the center of the courtyard. Two servants stood nearby, and the abandoned crate next to them suggested that they’d hauled it in like that before unpacking it.
“Director,” the servant to the left said, stepping forward. “Everything has been prepared.”
Garrett and the pilot briefly spoke with them, and then we got into the craft. I
t wasn’t as tight a fit as I’d feared—there were two seats in the front for the pilot and co-pilot, in front of two huge, round windows. Before the seats were an array of dials, buttons, and gizmos that were all probably very important. Garrett chose to sit up front with the pilot, while Iannis, Director Chen, and I settled next to each other on the long bench seat behind them.
Technically, Iannis should have been up there, since he was the mission leader, but the ship was provided by Garrett’s department. And besides, I wasn’t about to complain— I was happy to have Iannis sitting next to me for the flight. His warmth was comforting, and I squeezed his hand tight as the pilot engaged the engines. The small craft began to vibrate with a barely perceptible hum. I hoped the sound would remain muffled enough to evade the notice of the Lion Guards patrolling between the guest pavilions.
“You all strapped in?” the pilot asked sharply. “We’re about to take off!”
I double checked my straps, then gripped Iannis’s hand with my left and the overhead strap with my right, as the aircraft began to rise vertically into the air. We ascended slowly at first, then gradually picked up speed, the vibration from the small rotating wings becoming stronger. We lurched, then dropped for a long stomach-clenching moment. The pilot yanked on a lever, and I clenched my jaw at the accompanying loud noise coming from outside the aircraft. I assumed it had something to do with the wings, because in the next second, we caught the wind, and the aircraft began to swoop upward. It wasn’t until the aircraft leveled out that I finally let out the breath that I’d been holding.
“And so we’re off,” Iannis murmured, rubbing the back of my hand with his thumb. I scowled at the amusement in his tone, and then remembered that he’d nearly fallen to his death from a dirigible at four times this height and survived. If he could still manage to get onto experimental aircrafts after that experience, then I supposed I could stop being a baby and suck it up too.
We flew through the night, then landed in a wooded clearing near a small village, where we spent the day resting in a rickety old inn that had seen better days. Still, the hot spring baths were most welcoming and the food was delicious, so it was easy enough to ignore our less-than-stellar accommodations. I would have liked to go out and explore the village a little, but we’d gotten a lot of strange looks when we’d arrived. Though I couldn’t understand the whispered conversations, the tone told me enough—the villagers viewed us as a threat.
“Garaians do not take kindly to outsiders,” Chen reminded me over dinner when I brought it up. “It is best to have as little contact with the villagers as possible. It’s a good thing that the overlord of this province does not live close, and that we will be gone by the time they tell him about us. We do not want the villagers to notice anything too strange, like our flying craft, or the overlord may feel compelled to report directly to the Imperial Palace.”
We paid for another night in the inn, then waited until our landlady retired before slipping back to the forest and taking off in the aircraft again. The second night and day went much the same, and as we boarded the aircraft on the third night, the sky was clear, and our spirits were up.
“Only this last night, and we’ll be at Leniang Port,” Garrett said, sounding downright cheerful as the aircraft soared through the sky smoothly, as it had been for the past four hours. “Will your sister be surprised at your unannounced arrival with several companions?” he asked Chen.
She gave a delicate shrug. “I suppose so, but life is full of surprises.” She did not sound worried. “Once we explain our aims, it is in Asu’s own interest, as a Garaian mage, to help us stamp out these traitors as they deserve.”
“We’ll have to hide the flying machine outside the port city and enter on foot, unobtrusively,” Iannis said. “Will that be a problem?”
“Not at all,” Chen assured him. “The main part of Leniang is on an island covered by wooded hills, surrounded by smaller islands. Discreet back entrances are a dime a dozen, and hiding such a small machine will not be difficult at all.”
“I suppose we will just have to hire a carriage,” Garrett said, “and pretend we arrived on a ship.”
“That should be easy to arrange in a port city,” Iannis said. “Just make sure you keep your belongings close. There may be drivers and merchants aplenty in Leniang Port, but with that also comes plenty of pickpock—”
A strong wind buffeted the right side of the aircraft, slamming the three of us sideways. Director Chen cried out as she took the brunt of the blow beneath all of our weight, and I quickly righted myself, grabbing onto the strap hanging from the wall. Iannis grabbed the one dangling above him, and not a moment too soon, as another gust hit the other side of the aircraft and sent us careening in the opposite direction.
“Blast it!” the pilot cursed as rain began to splatter against the windows. “We’ve run right into a storm!”
“I can see that,” Garrett snapped, his fingers digging into the arms of his chair. His face had turned white, and fury flared in his hazel eyes as he glared at the pilot. “How did you allow this to happen? Don’t you have weather gauges?” He gestured wildly to the console between them.
“Yes, but they don’t seem to be working!” The pilot slapped at the console, fear and frustration oozing off him. “I don’t know why—I tested them just yesterday!”
“You should have tested them again before we took off!” Garrett yelled, and Henning flinched.
“Silence,” Iannis demanded, and the two of them snapped their mouths shut. “Quarreling isn’t going to get us out of this mess. Stop yelling at the pilot and let him fly the damned plane.”
Garrett’s cheeks colored as he clenched his jaw. “Very well. Is there anything we can do to assist, Henning?”
“Can’t we do a similar spell to turn the storm away, like we did with the ship?” I asked.
“That spell requires at least ten mages, and is specifically designed for use at sea,” Director Chen said. Her ivory face was pinched with worry. “I suppose we could try to improvise—”
Another wind gust slapped against the side of the airship, and we tightened our hold on the straps. Fear leapt into my throat at the sound of metal buckling, and Garrett’s eyes nearly popped out of his skull as a tear burst open the craft’s thin outer wall. Rain began to sputter in through the opening, and Iannis hastily smacked his hand against the leak and spoke a Word. The metal began sealing itself up, but before it had quite closed, we got hit from the other side and a new tear opened in the opposite wall. Ice crystalized in my veins—it was only a matter of minutes until the entire craft dissolved around us, and we went hurtling into the murky depths below.
“We can’t hold against this storm,” the pilot shouted as I ducked to avoid the spray of water. “I have to land, now! Brace yourselves!”
My stomach lurched as the aircraft took a sharp nosedive. Terror gripped my heart in an icy vise, and I grabbed Iannis and held him tight to me. Fuck the strap—it wasn’t going to save me if we crashed. If we died, I wanted to be holding Iannis.
“We’re going to be fine,” Iannis said, his arms banding tight about me. He pressed my cheek against his chest, and I felt his heart hammering beneath his clothes, just as hard and fast as mine. He could sound as calm as he wanted, but under the surface, he was just as terrified as I was. “We can’t stop the landing, but at least we can slow it down.”
“Yes, we can,” Director Chen agreed firmly. She clasped her hands together, and along with Iannis and Garrett, began to chant the Words to a spell. I managed to string it together with my improved Loranian—it was a spell to temporarily lighten something’s weight. Hope rose in my chest as the aircraft began to slow. Maybe we would make it through this after all!
But then I looked out the window, and that hope plummeted as I noticed we seemed to be heading directly for a river.
“Seriously!” I shouted, my turn to be angry at the pilot now. “You couldn’t aim us toward land instead?”
“Be grateful
we’re landing anywhere at all,” the pilot shouted back as we crashed into the water. The impact wasn’t as hard as it should have been, but it still rattled my brain, and I slammed into the hull. Waves engulfed the craft, obliterating any visibility at all, and we went under for a second before bobbing to the surface. The pilot slapped at a button near his seat, and the hatch popped open.
“Let’s go before this thing sinks,” he shouted, and he didn’t have to say it twice—the leaky airship was already sinking back into the water. With no choice left, I tore the seatbelt off me, then dived out of the hatch and into the cold, wet, roiling darkness of the unknown.
16
“This is fucking awful.” I grimaced as we huddled beneath a tree to wait out the storm. There was basically zero visibility out here with these howling winds and torrential rains, which had made swimming to shore very difficult. Iannis had conjured a glowing light over the river to ensure that we stayed together, and we’d eventually crawled onto the banks. Once we’d accounted for everyone, we erected a dome-like magical barrier beneath a tree ten yards from the river to keep out the storm. We’d also dried ourselves and started a little fire to keep warm, but it was still pretty damn miserable.
“You’re telling me,” Henning agreed gruffly, staring into the fire. His expression was bleak, and my heart sank for him—as the pilot, he had to be taking the loss of the aircraft harder than the rest of us. “We could have been in Leniang Port by morning if not for this damned storm.”
“How is it that the aircraft was unable to withstand the storm?” Iannis asked sternly. “Didn’t you claim it had been tested several times?”