Voyages of the Flying Dragon: Beast Child

by Ben Chandler

  ‘Try to keep us moving straight ahead, Mister Clemens,’ the captain said, his words muffled by his scarf and the oppressive air.

  Lenis did try. He was exhausted, his eyes were so dry it hurt to keep them open, and his hands were stiff and sore from clutching the steering shaft and his earlier encounter with the Quillblade, but he persevered. At any moment, they would reach Kolga’s temple, and then … Lenis didn’t know what would happen. Either they’d find one of the stones of ebb and flow, or they would discover Karasu had already beaten them to it. He didn’t want to consider that maybe there was no stone out here at all, that it lay hidden in some other temple in some other country where Apsilla was known by some other name. Or worse, that someone else besides Karasu had already found the stone and taken it. In Seisui’s temple, in Shinzō, they had found engravings that led them to Asheim in Ost. If an adventurer or an explorer had been to Kolga’s temple before them and taken the treasure the Hiryū’s crew were seeking, there was no guarantee that they had left behind similar clues.

  A familiar headache began building in Lenis’s skull. The tainted air played tricks with his mind. A low buzzing had been building just inside his range of hearing. He did his best to ignore it, but it seemed to grow louder. Then he realised what it was.

  ‘That’s an engine!’ Lenis cried out.

  The captain reached forwards to place a hand on his shoulder. ‘Softly, Mister Clemens,’ he whispered in Lenis’s ear. ‘Sound can carry strangely in normal fog, more so in this tainted atmosphere. That is indeed an engine. I dare to hope it is the sound of Karasu’s own airship.’

  As the captain sat back, Lenis felt his heartbeat quicken. If it really was Karasu’s airship, then they were almost at their destination, but it seemed impossible! How could they both arrive here at exactly the same time?

  The sound grew stronger, and Lenis found himself holding his breath. Slowly, he exhaled. Even if it were Karasu, he would not be able to see them as long as they remained absolutely silent. It was likely the sound of his airship’s engines would drown out the noise of the landcraft, but they could only mask so much.

  Lenis lost all track of time. This, too, had happened to him before in the Wastelands, but now he was distracted by the increasing whirr of engines calling out to them, drawing them onwards. So focused was he on the sound that it took Lenis a moment to notice there was something looming up ahead of them. He strained his eyes, trying to make out what exactly it was. One moment, he was sure it was an airship. The next, it looked more like a building or tower. Lenis felt his frustration build, which he discovered was being fuelled by his companions’ emotions. By concentrating, Lenis was able to block out their impatience and tension, but that still left him dealing with his own.

  The fog broke and the shape came into focus. It was an airship, and it looked just like the Hiryū, right down to the red dragon figurehead. Behind it was the now familiar squat shape of a Totem’s temple. Lenis could not believe their luck. Not only had they found Kolga’s temple, but Karasu was here as well. If they could somehow get both stones away from him, the one in the temple and the one already in the mercenary’s possession, then their quest would be over! They would finally be able to unlock Suiteki’s powers.

  Lenis brought the landcraft to a stop. For a while no one said anything, and then the captain motioned them all closer.

  ‘It appears our timing is fortunate,’ he whispered. The words were so low they were barely louder than his breathing, but Lenis could sense Captain Shishi’s controlled excitement. ‘We must decide whether to attempt to sneak aboard Karasu’s airship and retrieve the first stone, or confront him in the temple for the second.’

  Lenis remembered back to their near-encounter with Karasu in Seisui’s temple and their confrontation in the chamber with the ice pillar. He didn’t want to face the mercenary in a direct fight, but back in the Wastelands of Shinzō, Karasu had gone into the temple with only Chūritsu for company, leaving his warriors aboard his airship. Had he done so now?

  ‘We could split up.’ Lenis tried to speak as low as he could. ‘I could take Atrum and sneak on board the airship. I know where the stone is kept.’

  ‘It is possible Karasu will have it with him,’ the captain countered. ‘I will not risk you facing him alone, Mister Clemens. Pull the landcraft around to that side –’ he pointed to a spot between Karasu’s airship and the temple ‘– and let us see if we can gain a clearer assessment of the situation.’

  Lenis nodded and, as slowly as he could manage, he manoeuvred to the place the captain had suggested. There was no sign of movement either on board the airship or near the entrance to the temple, except for the flickering of torches.

  The captain motioned Lenis, Kanu, Shin, and Hiroshi in close again. ‘We must make haste. That Karasu still has his engines running suggests he means to leave soon and in a hurry. The fact that he hasn’t departed yet makes me believe he is still in the temple.’

  Hiroshi’s attempt at a whisper was awfully loud. ‘So, which is it, then? The temple or the airship?’

  Lenis could feel the captain’s indecision. At first he thought the man would never be able to make up his mind, but then Captain Shishi said, ‘The temple. It is the better option. At worst, he has left the stone he already possesses on the airship. If we can disable Karasu, we can use him as a hostage to barter with his crew for the stone.’

  The others nodded, content to let this decision be the captain’s.

  Lenis moved the landcraft around the temple’s corner so that it would not be easily spotted once Atrum’s veil of invisibility moved away from it. Then he quickly explained Atrum’s power, telling them all that they would each have to remain in physical contact to be affected by it. It was awkward, climbing down out of the landcraft whilst holding each other’s hands, but they managed. Lenis held Atrum and Kanu’s hand. Next came the captain, then Shin, and finally Hiroshi. In an uneven line they moved around to the temple’s entrance.

  Like the other temples Lenis had seen, this one had a gaping rectangle for a doorway. On either side, Karasu had placed torches, and the crewmembers moved around them warily, not quite believing their invisibility. Lenis had an advantage here, as he could sense Atrum’s power at work, while the others just had to trust him. Once they were inside the temple, Lenis could hear voices. He moved in deeper until he was able to make out the interior.

  Kolga, it seemed, took the form of a maiden. The walls of her temple were covered in carvings of a young woman holding an overly large jar. According to the engravings, the jar held many wonders. It could pour fresh water for people to drink, douse fires, sooth injuries, and water crops with, or, as in the one that drew Lenis’s immediate attention, it could repel the ocean’s waves. His excitement grew. This was it! It had to be.

  And then he noticed who was speaking. It had not been Karasu and Chūritsu, as Lenis had hoped. They were both there, but they were speaking with another figure that had greenish skin and large tusks protruding from its mouth. Its hair was a tangle of dry tree branches, and Lenis could see a single horn rising out of the top of its head. It was girded in a reed skirt, and its hands and feet were webbed. Lenis knew at once that it was a Demon, but he could also tell it had once been a Lilim, its physical presence a clear indicator that it had completely devoured the human it had been bonded to.

  ‘Well, here is your precious stone, Lord Karasu.’ The Lilim waved at something behind him, out of Lenis’s line of sight. He felt Kanu grip his hand, hard. The signal to stop and wait.

  ‘Is that mockery I hear in your tone, Akandoji?’ Karasu snapped, and it occurred to Lenis that they were speaking in the common tongue. Why would they do that? Akandoji sounded like a Shinzōn name. Surely …

  ‘Of course not, master.’ The Demon performed a stiffly formal bow. ‘I would never dare to mock you.’

  Something tickled at the back of Lenis’s mind. It was something, he now realised, that he had been pondering for some time. Akandoji reminded him o
f Akamusaborikū, and not just because they had met in similar circumstances – seeing Karasu in or near a temple in the Wastelands. Lenis wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before, but of course, he had. He had been thinking of it ever since Gesshoku. Akamusaborikū could talk. And so could Akandoji. How were they able to do that? Demons were mindless vessels. They lost their souls to the Wasteland sickness. Yet here was a Demon conversing with Karasu, just as Akamusaborikū had been taunting them back near Shinzō. It should not have been possible. The Lilim Demons they had just fought in Haven hadn’t been this intelligent. What was the connection? Was it the temples? Surely it could not have been Karasu?

  ‘It hardly matters,’ Chūritsu said, then scooped up the stone from behind the Demon, depositing it in the sack he carried over one shoulder. ‘We aren’t going to be using it. Not as anything more than a bargaining chip, at any rate. Let’s just get out of here. This tainted air does terrible things to my allergies.’

  Karasu snorted. ‘So be it. The attack on Haven should be at an end by now. Let us go and pick through the debris.’

  All three figures turned and started walking towards the entrance. Chūritsu asked, ‘You don’t think the Mayonaka brat could have been killed, do you?’

  Karasu gave a bark of laughter. ‘Not that one. Besides, the witch will probably protect him. There’s no way she’d let the Demons get their hands on the baby Totem. Isn’t that right, Captain Shishi?’

  The mercenary stopped halfway to the doorway. Akandoji and Chūritsu walked on for a few more paces before they, too, paused. The scientist scratched the back of his head. ‘What are you –?’

  Karasu said something in Shinzōn. Lenis felt the captain pull away from Kanu’s hold. He, Shin and Hiroshi were no longer cloaked under Atrum’s power – they were no longer invisible.

  The captain drew his sword. ‘Very perceptive, Sir Karasu. Out of curiosity, might I ask what gave us away?’

  Karasu reached behind his back and drew his own large sword. A Lilim blade, Lenis now surmised, forged when a Lilim chose to exist forever in the form of an inanimate object rather than face death as a living thing. ‘I have been expecting you, Captain Shishi, for some time now.’

  ‘Oh?’ The captain raised one eyebrow.

  ‘Your engineer taught me a few new tricks.’ The mercenary grinned and looked straight at Lenis. Lenis’s heart thudded in his chest. How could he see him? Atrum was still cloaking him. ‘I would never have thought to use a Bestia so. You can come out, boy. I can see you. The torchlight flickers around the edges of your cloaked form.’

  Lenis blinked. He hadn’t even thought of that. If Atrum made them invisible by refracting the light around them, then shifting the torchlight would … He pushed the idea to the back of his mind to churn through on its own. Lenis pulled his hand away from Kanu’s and squeezed Atrum, who jumped out of his arms and dropped his veil of invisibility.

  ‘That’s better,’ Karasu said. ‘We are all here.’

  ‘Give us the stones, Sir Karasu,’ the captain said in an even voice.

  The mercenary laughed. ‘Of course. You may have this one now.’ He reached into Chūritsu’s sack and pulled something out. It was the size and shape of the stone Lenis had seen in Karasu’s cabin, when he had snuck onto the mercenary’s airship in Fronge, but there was something different about this one. Karasu bent down and placed the stone on the ground at his feet. ‘Now, step aside. We will leave peacefully. You get one of your little stones. No one needs to die.’

  Captain Shishi was implacable. ‘Both stones.’

  Karasu shook his head. ‘I will give you this one as a sign of my good faith. The other, I will keep.’

  ‘Are you working for the Demon King?’ the captain demanded. The question took Lenis by surprise, but if Karasu was working for Ishullanu his refusal to hand over both stones made sense. Then again, why hand over either of them?

  Instead of replying, Karasu turned his gaze on Kanu. The boy regarded him calmly in turn. ‘You had me fooled, boy. I mistook you for your master.’ He turned back to the captain. ‘Stand aside, Shishi, and I will make you a deal. Allow me to leave and you may follow along behind me. When we reach our destination, I will give you the second stone. As a further sign of my good faith, I will even tell you we are heading to Kaltheim in Ost. There, you see? Fighting will accomplish little. Look at you! You’re wounded and exhausted. I am offering you an alternative to violence. One where we all get what we want.’

  The captain remained silent for a moment. ‘What is the catch?’

  Karasu smirked, eyeing Kanu once more. ‘Bring this boy with you.’

  ‘Why?’

  ‘You will see when we get to where we’re going.’

  ‘Captain?’ Shin interrupted.

  Captain Shishi nodded. ‘Very well.’

  ‘Captain!’ Hiroshi cried. ‘We can take them all, I tell you!’

  ‘No, Mister Hiroshi.’ The captain raised his arm to one side. ‘We have been offered a peaceful alternative to fighting. We shall take it. Stand aside, all of you. Allow Karasu and his … companions to leave.’

  Karasu nodded. ‘Wise decision, Shishi.’

  He, Chūritsu and the Demon Akandoji started walking again. Lenis grabbed Kanu’s hand and pulled him to one side as Karasu approached. When they drew level, the mercenary looked Lenis in the eye and said, ‘You really are a remarkable Bestia Keeper, boy. I will remember you once this is done.’ He turned to go but then paused. ‘A true master of his craft must first be tested,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘Can your Hiryū catch my Ryōshiryū? Such a task would be a fitting trial for an airship engineer’s skills, do you not agree? The winner shall claim the dragon’s heart.’

  ‘What does that mean?’ Lenis demanded, shaken.

  ‘If you can catch me you will be worthy of an answer.’ Saying no more, Karasu led his two companions out of the temple.

  As soon as they were gone Lenis rushed towards the discarded stone, pushing Karasu’s challenge to the edge of his thoughts. Finally, they had retrieved one of the stones of ebb and flow! For whatever reason, and Lenis had no doubt he had a reason, Karasu had given them what they had come for. As he knelt down to retrieve the stone, triumph surged through him, only to be doused as his hand closed around the long sought after orb. A large crack marred its otherwise smooth surface. It was broken.

  ‘Captain!’ Lenis shouted, cradling the stone in both hands. ‘Captain, it’s broken!’

  They all rushed to where Lenis was kneeling, demanding to see the stone for themselves.

  ‘He tricked us,’ Shin said.

  ‘After him!’ Hiroshi shouted and took off out of the temple.

  The others were quick to follow, their wounds and tiredness forgotten. To have come so close only to walk away with nothing … they would take their fury out on the Shinzōn mercenary! Lenis felt himself buoyed along by his crewmates’ outrage. He drew it into himself, feeding his own anger, allowing it to burn away his fatigue. He found his own fingers twitching for a weapon he had never held.

  And then they were outside, where Karasu was already on board his airship, giving the order to get underway. But before them, barring their way and frustrating their drive for vengeance, was Akandoji the Demon.

  Lenis expected the captain to attack immediately, as he had done back in the Wastelands outside of Gesshoku, where the captain had leapt up and decapitated Akamusaborikū in one swift motion. Either his encounter with that Demon had made him wary – not even chopping off his head had been enough to stop the Demon – or the captain was in a worse state than Lenis had thought, because instead he stopped and raised a warning hand to the others.

  Akandoji laughed. It sounded like the gurgling of water over stones. ‘So, you are the mortals who bested Akamusaborikū?’

  Lenis had been right. There was a connection between the two Demonic Lilim!

  The captain crouched into a fighting stance, his sword held low but at the ready. ‘I am Mayonaka Shishi of the Uchū
no Shinpan-ryū. Break off your horn and surrender to me.’

  As Akamusaborikū had done before him, Akandoji threw back his head and laughed all the harder. This time it came out like a torrent. ‘Well, I am Akandoji, Demon of the Northern Isles and Servant to Lord Aitō the Water Demon, and I do not submit to the judgement of any mortal.’

  ‘Except for Shōgo no Akushin Karasu?’ the captain countered.

  The Demon looked over his shoulder to where Karasu’s airship had just begun to lift off the ground. ‘Ha!’ Akandoji muttered. ‘Me? Serve him? Foolishness!’

  ‘You serve Lord Aitō?’ the captain pressed.

  Lenis wondered why he was wasting time talking to the Demon. Every second they delayed gave Karasu a chance to get further away. Already it would take time to return to Haven, deal with the Brotherhood of the Nine-Tailed Fox, and then get the Hiryū in the air to give chase. What was the captain thinking?

  Akandoji was considering the captain carefully. ‘What do you know of Lord Aitō?’

  The captain replied, ‘I know that he was once the Onishu who brought tsunamis and floods to Shinzō. His tears could drown a whole village.’

  ‘Indeed!’ The Demon chuckled. ‘I had misjudged you for a fool!’

  ‘I also know that Aitō has many names, and that his power stretches into distant lands.’

  ‘True! True!’

  ‘And that the only thing he fears in this world is Akuma, Lord of the Underworld.’

  ‘Yes,’ Akandoji said with less enthusiasm. ‘All fear the King of the Onishu.’