The Quest to the Uncharted Lands

by Jaleigh Johnson

  He sounded like just the person Stella needed—and someone whom Cyrus admired. “Do you know him well?” she asked.

  “He and my father are friends,” Cyrus said, “and he taught me all kinds of different ways to use aletheum. That’s how I was able to put it in the Iron Glory’s gasbag during construction. I’ll give you directions to get to his house in the city. I can even draw you a map if you can get your hands on some paper.”

  Stella brought him some stiff bandages and a pencil and they started to plan. Cyrus sketched the map as well as he could, but his hands were still shaking, the light in his eyes fading as he struggled to stay conscious and alert.

  Stella vowed she would bring back help for her father and the crew. She would save Cyrus, the way he had saved them all.

  Stella Glass, alchemist, healer-in-training, and professional stowaway, was going to be the first human to explore the olaran city of Kovall in the uncharted lands of Solace.

  When Cyrus finished the map, he wrote a brief note on the back of the bandage in his own language for Stella to give to the Tinker so that he would know she could be trusted. Stella took it and then gathered up all the supplies she thought the crew could spare from the medical bay. If she could scrounge some more food from somewhere before she left the ship, that would be wonderful, but she wasn’t counting on it.

  She put on the invisibility suit but paused at Cyrus’s bedside, impulsively leaning down to kiss him on the forehead. He’d been asleep, but his eyes fluttered open and slowly focused on her.

  “I’ll be back soon,” she whispered, her throat tight. “Wait for me, all right?”

  His eyes softened, and he reached out and weakly squeezed her good hand. “I’ll try,” he said. “But there’s something I want to tell you, Stella, just in case…well, you know.”

  Cyrus’s face blurred as Stella’s eyes filled with tears. “Go ahead,” she said, fighting to keep her voice steady as she laced her fingers with his.

  “I just want you to know that I don’t regret anything,” Cyrus said. “For a long time, I was so mad at myself for joining the expedition to your lands. After the slavers captured me, I didn’t want anything to do with your part of the world. Then I met you, and everything changed. You changed me. I can’t ever thank you enough for that, Stella. For giving me hope.”

  Stella squeezed his hand tight. “Hold on to that hope, Cyrus,” she begged. “I haven’t forgotten my promise. I will get you home.”

  Reluctantly, she let go of his hand. If she didn’t make herself leave now, she knew she wouldn’t be able to.

  She turned away, going to her mother next. As much as she hated to say goodbye to Cyrus, she’d been dreading this conversation with her mother even more and was fully prepared for an argument. In fact, she half expected her mother to tell Drea, who might try to force her to stay. But she had to take that risk. She couldn’t leave without an explanation. She’d failed to confide in her parents once, and she wouldn’t do it again.

  When she explained what she was about to do, for a moment her mother said nothing at all. Then she stepped forward and drew Stella into her arms.

  “I don’t want you to go, Stella,” her mother said. “I think it’s dangerous, and too many things could go wrong.”

  Stella nodded, burying her face in her mother’s shoulder. “But if I don’t go…if I don’t try…” She couldn’t finish the sentence.

  “I know,” her mother murmured, stroking Stella’s hair with trembling hands. “I want you to stay here, to be safe…but…I’m not going to tell you that you can’t try to save your friend.”

  Stella pulled back in surprise, looking into her mother’s eyes. They were full of sorrow, fear, and pride. In that moment, Stella had the feeling that saying those words had been more painful for her mother than saying goodbye to Stella in Noveen, harder to endure than the crash. This time she was the one sending Stella into an unknown land, and neither of them knew what the consequences might be.

  “I’ll be careful, Mom,” Stella said as tears spilled down her cheeks. “And…thank you. I promise I’ll come back soon. I’ll bring help—we’ll find Dad, and everything will be all right.”

  Oh, how she hoped that was true.

  Her mother nodded, wiping away the moisture from Stella’s cheeks. “You should go now, while everyone’s distracted searching the ship for survivors. I’ll cover for you as long as I can.”

  Then she pulled Stella in for one last, bone-crushing hug. Stella inhaled the scent of her mother’s perfume and drew all the strength she could from the embrace. It was a hug that said so many things between mother and daughter yet needed no words at all.

  Stella pulled away and left the medical bay without a backward glance. She activated the invisibility suit and made her way cautiously through the ship, managing to avoid the search parties moving among the wreckage.

  When she stepped outside the remains of the Iron Glory, she paused to get her bearings and examine the wrapping on her injured wrist. The swelling had gone down, but it was still painful and tender. It wouldn’t be good for much on this trip. She carried her sack of supplies in her good hand and set out for the road that Drea’s scouts had found.

  The area around the crash site was an open, rocky field. In the distance, far to the east, was the expanse of pine forest they’d flown over on the last day of their journey. Somewhere beyond that lay the mountains.

  When she was far enough away from the crash site that the Iron Glory’s scouts wouldn’t see her, Stella stopped, deactivated the invisibility suit, and took it off so she was wearing her regular clothes. Then she looked back at the airship wreckage.

  She’d known it would be bad, but knowing that hadn’t prepared her for the twisted ruin before her. Shattered propellers dug furrows into the grass, a punctured hull lay like an open wound, and even the mast and crow’s nest had been torn down and thrown dozens of feet away from the crash site. The ship’s gasbag was intact, thanks to Cyrus’s aletheum, but tangled in a mass of cables and half draped over the bow of the ship.

  Tears blurred Stella’s vision, and for once, she was grateful for them. She didn’t want to see the Iron Glory like this. The beautiful ship, her rising star, had fallen for good.

  It would never be able to carry them home.

  Don’t think about that now, Stella told herself. It didn’t matter anyway. Her home was with the people who were most precious to her. They came from both sides of the mountains, but they were all right here.

  They counted on her for help.

  She turned away from the ruin of the Iron Glory and headed west, walking for a few miles with only Cyrus’s words running through her head. “Stay on the road and you won’t get lost,” he had told her. “All roads lead to Kovall eventually. It’s the biggest city for miles.”

  The road she traveled cut a path through vast fields of swaying grasses and wildflowers, some she didn’t recognize at all. Foxes and rabbits occasionally poked their heads out of hiding, but there were strange creatures too. A brown snake with green spots lifted its head from the grass. Stella froze and backed away slowly, hoping the thing wasn’t poisonous, when she realized the snake was covered in fur. It wasn’t a reptile at all, but something new. She made a mental note to ask Cyrus about it later.

  She walked on, keeping an eye out for more strange new species. So far, there were no houses or signs of people for miles in every direction. She’d asked Cyrus a little about the area, and he guessed they were in the Beldt Grasslands. He’d explained that it was a large tract of land to the east of Kovall that was owned by the city and that would eventually be turned into a public park or held for new construction as the city continued to grow and expand.

  Seeing it firsthand, Stella stared out at the vastness, shielding her eyes against the sun. She’d grown up in a crowded city, but even the land outside Noveen didn’t feel as wide open, nor as endless, as this.

  It was Stella’s first inkling that the land she found herself in now was ve
ry different from her own. Empty, yet full of beauty and possibilities.

  Still, after several hours of walking, despite her wariness, a part of her wanted to encounter someone. A person. A voice that wasn’t the cry and flutter of birds stirring the tall grasses. It was so quiet out here, and the road scrolling away in front of her for miles was daunting and lonely.

  She stopped for a few minutes to eat some food late in the day. She hadn’t managed to scrounge much, but it would get her through the journey to Kovall. Part of her had been hoping she’d reach the city in a day, but her wrist ached and her ribs and body were still sore from her ordeal in the engine room, all of which slowed her progress.

  When she finally stopped to sleep for the night, Stella took a moment to watch the horizon deepen from rich orange to a glorious, burning red. It wasn’t the same red she’d seen while soaring the skies over the Hiterian Mountains, but the open fields allowed the riot of color to touch every blade of grass and turn it copper before fading to a cool twilight blue.

  Before the light vanished, Stella looked down the road one last time. A surge of excitement tickled her scalp. In the distance, almost hidden by the gathering dark, were the outlines of dozens of tall buildings. They blurred together, tiny with distance, but it was unmistakably a city. A very large city.

  All roads lead to Kovall.

  Stella made a rough camp in the tall grass. In addition to the meager food she’d scrounged, she’d packed a couple of blankets, and of course, the invisibility suit and the messenger beetle. She’d also brought the Lazuril rod, which she kept close by, just in case. She nibbled on some cheese before curling up in her blanket.

  Sleep turned out to be impossible. Stella’s mind wandered to what it would be like in the city full of olarans and decided that since she couldn’t sleep, she might as well do something useful. She took the beetle out of her pocket and listened to Cyrus’s language lesson. A small part of her thought it would make her nod off, but it didn’t. She already knew by heart all the words he’d given her. Now they just made her think about the day to come. Her stomach clenched with apprehension.

  She wished Cyrus could be with her when she stepped through the city gates. What if she didn’t make it back in time or the olarans thought she was an enemy? What if the Tinker didn’t believe her when she told her story?

  To distract herself from her worries, she decided to record a message for Cyrus, to let her know how much progress she’d made.

  “Cyrus, it’s nighttime now, and I can see Kovall in the distance. I should be there early tomorrow. The grasslands are beautiful, and even the smell of the wildflowers is different here, or maybe I just want it to be. Please send me a message back as soon as you get this so that I know you’re with me. Then I won’t feel so alone.”

  Stella ended the message, raised her hands above her head, and released the beetle. It spiraled into the sky, moonlight glinting off its copper carapace.

  Travel fast, she thought. Fly straight.

  She lay back down to sleep again. She must have been more tired than she’d thought, because the next time she opened her eyes, it was morning.

  A few hours after she started out on the road, the beetle click-whir-clicked its way up behind her and then dipped into her line of vision, circling her head once before it landed in her outstretched hand. Stella’s hands shook as she activated it to play back the message.

  “Stella, I’m still here. No better, no worse. I’m glad you told me how close you are to the city. It almost makes me feel like I’m there with you, like I’m going home.”

  Cyrus’s voice dropped to a faint whisper, and Stella had to press the beetle against her ear to hear the word “home.” A long silence followed, and Stella thought the message might be over. But Cyrus’s voice came back, softer, weaker, but still with her.

  “Stella, would you do something for me? Would you send the beetle back one more time before you get to the city? I want to record a message for my parents, just in case…in case I don’t make it. I want them to hear my voice, so that they know I was all right, in the end. Do that for me. Please.”

  The message ended, and Stella stared at the beetle, as if she could see through its eyes, all the way back to the ship and to Cyrus. She activated it for another recording.

  “Cyrus, don’t you dare give up on me! You’re not going to die. I can see Kovall clearly now. So much metal! You didn’t tell me it would shine like that in the sun. It’s beautiful.

  “Record your message for your parents, but I’ll never have to deliver it. Please hold on a little longer, Cyrus. I’m coming.”

  She sent the beetle flying and doubled her pace, not caring about the pain in her wrist or her fatigue.

  She was close now. So close.

  The path Stella traveled gradually began to widen, intersecting other, larger roads. One minute, there were no signs of civilization, and the next, the grasslands gave way to farms surrounded by stone walls and fences. Smoke curled from chimneys, and for the first time on her journey, Stella saw some olarans, men and women who worked the fields with tools and machinery that she had a hard time identifying.

  Tall, spherical tanks sloshed with water as they wheeled up and down the corn rows, stretching out eight metal arms, four on each side, connected to hoses that jetted clean, cold water to irrigate the land. The machines were impressive, but even more amazing was that they appeared to be operating by themselves, with no direction from the farmers.

  Stella tried not to stare, and as she passed by, she nodded to the farmers. A man tipped his hat to her and shouted a greeting, which Stella returned, remembering Cyrus’s language lesson. Then she hurried on, not wanting to seem rude but also not wanting to reveal that she couldn’t understand anything beyond the basics of the olaran language.

  As she continued on the road, Stella crossed a series of railroad tracks and sometimes even found herself traveling alongside a passenger train. The locomotives were similar in design to those in her part of the world, but they were sleeker, lighter, and nearly silent as they cut across the land like the edge of a knife.

  Stella blended in easily with the traffic that had now joined her on the road, moving steadily toward the city. There were enough people traveling on foot—likely walking in from nearby farms—that she didn’t stand out. The olarans all appeared to be human, just like Cyrus and her, and except for her clothing, which differed a little in style from the people she passed, she might have been any other citizen of Kovall.

  Eventually, a set of metal gates came into view ahead of her, similar to the gates protecting Noveen. However, the sheer size of these, and the city beyond, was overwhelming.

  Cyrus was right. Kovall was so much bigger than her city, bigger than any city she’d ever seen. As she passed through the gates, she was swallowed by the immensity of it all. The streets were narrow and jammed with people, and the buildings soared so high they blocked the sun. Stella had to crane her neck to look up at them. Many of the largest ones were made of metal, and they glittered brightly in the sun like the gasbag of the Iron Glory.

  They’re made of aletheum, Stella realized, or a similar material. They also looked much newer than the stone houses and buildings she walked past, as if the metal structures were slowly taking over.

  Dozens of smaller railroad tracks crisscrossed the streets and even rose up several stories in the air. Rumbling along the tracks, not nearly as silent as the locomotives, were miniature trains carrying even more people. These were open to the air and more primitive than the passenger trains traveling outside the city, more like steam-powered carts. But they moved with a speed that made Stella jump whenever they zoomed past. The whole city seemed to move faster, was more mechanical, than she’d ever expected.

  Again, she wished that Cyrus were here to explain it all to her, but she didn’t have time to stop and take in the sights. She needed to find the Tinker’s house. She moved onto a sidewalk, out of the way of both the street traffic and the people hurrying past,
and pulled out the map Cyrus had drawn for her.

  As she was trying to get her bearings, the beetle drifted down and settled on her shoulder, its clicking and whirring sounds drowned out by the city traffic. Startled, Stella scooped the beetle off into her hand. Relief flooded her. She’d begun to worry that the distance from the ship to Kovall was too great for it to travel, and she knew how important it was to Cyrus that she get his message to his parents.

  In case. Just in case.

  She activated the message and raised the beetle to her ear. There was some static and scratching sounds, as if the beetle’s mechanics had been strained by the long journey.

  “Hello again,” a man’s voice hissed in her ear, unfamiliar at first, but then Stella realized who was speaking and nearly flung the beetle away in shock. “Did you miss me?”

  It was the Faceless man.

  The Faceless man was back, and he had the beetle, which meant he’d somehow gotten to Cyrus. Stella leaned against a building, afraid her legs wouldn’t support her, while she played the message.

  “I know that you’re on your way to Kovall to bring back help for your friend, but it won’t matter. Cyrus is dying. You can’t save him. But you can save your parents, if you do exactly what I say.”

  Stella felt the ground heave beneath her. Had the Faceless man also gotten to her mother and father? She stared at the beetle, at her distorted expression in its copper shell. How could this be happening? The Faceless man had become a nightmare she couldn’t wake up from.

  “I’m willing to let them go unharmed if you abandon this mission and come back to the ship alone,” the Faceless man’s message went on. “Tell no one who you are. Ask no one for help. If you disobey me, your parents will be the first ones to pay the price.”

  The beetle finished its message, but Stella stood frozen in the cool shade of the building, trying to form any coherent thought.