Renegade Skyfarer
Page 8
Krista bit her lip as she walked, then shook her head. “I don’t like the gas-light tech coming from Lasim. Let’s just get replacement crystals if we can find them.” She shot Jade a grin. “Maybe we can save some of that budget for that shiny condenser upgrade.”
“Yes! Great idea.” Jade folded her list and returned it to its pocket with a decisive nod. She looked over her shoulder, to talk to the guys, and frowned at the frizzy red strands in her line of sight. She pressed her hands on her curls in an attempt to subdue the damage done by the humid air as she waited for Briar to stop talking to Ben so they could make their plans.
Bless Ben, he looked enthralled in whatever story Briar was weaving for him. He smiled and followed along, asking questions whenever Briar paused for breath. Ben’s warm laugh echoed off the brick buildings, and his eyes sparkled with amusement. Too late, she realized that she’d been caught staring. Ben winked.
Blushing, Jade turned to look at Krista, letting her hair hide her face. Of all things. Caught ogling a guy she barely knew. Barrier, take me now.
Krista leaned into Jade’s space, and she wrapped her good arm around Jade’s shoulders. “I saw that,” she whispered. “Moving on from Zak, finally?”
Jade pulled away, biting back her shriek of protest. She clutched Krista’s arm and leaned close to her friend. “No, I’m not ‘moving on.’ There’s nothing to move on from!” she whispered vehemently. “And it’s not as if I like Ben. I was just…” Think of something, quick. “I was admiring how the sun brings out the red highlights in his hair.”
Krista’s shoulders shook as she raised an eyebrow and smirked. “For your sake, I hope you never have some big secret to keep. The world would know it within a minute.”
Too embarrassed and irritated to admit the truth of Krista’s words, Jade chose not to respond. Adding fuel to the fire of Krista’s imagination wouldn’t help any.
“Miss Stohner!”
Jade looked up from the cobblestones and searched the nearby faces for the owner of the voice. A strapping young man about her age stalked toward her with earnest eyes and a carefully curled moustache. He stopped several paces away and bowed.
“James.” Jade smiled, and ingrained etiquette made her bob in a shallow curtsy. “It’s been a while.” She motioned toward an emblem on his gray uniform. “Is that new?”
Her father had only a handful of family friends that he’d made a point of her meeting specifically, and James was one of them. Something about his grandfather being one of Slate’s commanding officers “back in the day,” or something along those lines.
James adjusted his gray military police cap and nodded with a broad smile. “It’s Ensign Brigley now. Is your family well? Anything new?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary.” Jade chuckled. “All are well, and life’s been full with our usual brand of misadventures.”
“Excellent.” He noticed Briar and Ben and nodded to them, his gaze lingering on Ben’s outfit. James half raised an eyebrow before schooling his face into neutrality and returning his attention to Jade. “I hope the Monomi didn’t get too hard a time from Overseer Nevin’s visit last night.” He tapped a finger against his sword hilt and dropped his voice. “Please, let Zak know that the Monomi don’t stand alone.”
Jade pushed down her rising emotions at the mention of Zak, the Monomi family, and Nevin, and dipped into a short curtsy again. “Thank you. Your support means much.”
A small, tight smile spread on James’ face. “Of course. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He tipped his hat and melted into the flow of the morning crowd.
Ben crossed his arms and frowned as he looked off in the direction that James disappeared to. “Is something going on? Why didn’t Zak come with us?”
Briar’s lips puckered out, then in, and then pressed into a flat line. His eyes flicked to Jade and back to Ben. “Zak’s not allowed in Doldra. It was a battle to get permission for him to be allowed at the shipping yards, but because he’s part of the Sapphire crew, and the shipping yards are private property, he’s permitted.” Briar shrugged. “He’s the exiled Monomi. Overseer Nevin comes by every time we’re in port to remind Zak that he’s the renegade, the banished, the unwanted.”
“Monomi, as in Zak’s family?”
“Zak’s clan, yes,” Krista answered, tucking her arms behind her back. “They’re a noble family here in Doldra that became the Guardians of the keystone back when the barrier went up.”
Jade nodded. “His clan excels in stealth and fighting and all the secrecy and stuff needed to keep the citadel safe.” She scowled. “But the massacre of the royal family messed up that system, and now his family is not only a lesser noble class, but not very loved here.”
“And there’s a treaty with a long list of what the Monomi can and can’t do.” Briar rolled his wrist in a fluid motion. “Nevin likes to rub it in that Zak broke the treaty as a teenager and got exiled. Bleeding Void Born scum. I’d love to give him my thoughts on the matter.”
Jade gripped the hem of her duster and bit back her opinion of the government. Something that happened so long ago shouldn’t affect her friend now.
“What did Zak do?” Ben asked as he idly scratched at the beard scruff that had started to grow in. “Scowl at the wrong person?”
Briar huffed a laugh and ran his hand through his short black hair before dragging it down his face. “How do I even explain all that?” He blew out a breath and glanced out of the corner of his eye. “It’s a sore spot, so don’t try asking him unless you’re ready for whatever his reaction is.”
Jade quirked her lips at Briar’s words. He wasn’t wrong. Zak talked about his banishment rarely, and his early childhood even more rarely. And if he did talk about either, oftentimes he’d be in a funk for at least a day after.
Jade motioned to lead them on through the crowd, but she stopped when she realized Ben hadn’t kept pace. He stood in the middle of the street, arms folded and mouth gaping as he leaned back, his eyes trained above her head. Jade dodged a horse and rider and moved back to Ben’s side to see what held his attention. Briar and Krista trailed behind her.
A mauve haze stretched toward the sky like a large curtain that hung from invisible hooks. It curved away on either side, as far as one could see. Ben skipped forward a few steps, then stopped.
He pointed to it as he turned to them. “I didn’t get a chance to ask before. Why is there a huge purple…” He glanced back at it and turned back, an unsure expression puckering his lips. “Thing in the sky?”
Jade couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped her. Somehow, Ben made confusion look cute.
No. Stop that thought right there, lash it down, and leave it to die.
“Wherever you’re from, I’m guessing it’s midland and not by the barrier.” Jade gently tugged his sleeve, and Ben reluctantly tore his eyes from the sight to look at her. She tucked her hands behind her and walked backward slowly, trusting Krista to stop her before she ran into anyone. Jade shifted her tone to a scholarly drawl. “The barrier is what protects southern Terrene from the great evil of the blood-bonded Elph in the north. It is a curtain of time and Void magic; instant death comes to any who touch it. Without it, we would all be enslaved and turned into mindless zombies.”
Krista doubled over with a burst of laughter, clutching a hand against her corset while she wiped tears from her eyes. “You stole that last line from Zak, didn’t you?” She rubbed her hand against her skirt, still chuckling.
“Silence!” Jade commanded, trying to hold humor out of her voice despite Krista’s scoff. “I am educating our recruit.” Jade narrowed her eyes at Ben and lowered her voice, as if telling a scary story. “Nearly twenty years ago, the Doldran keystone was sabotaged during an attack by the Reformers on the royal family here, and ruin had a chance to sweep the lands.” She gestured grandly and almost hit Krista with her hand. “But brave heroes fought against the evil renegades,” she brought her fisted hands together in front of her chest, “and we
are safe today because of their sacrifices.” Jade shrugged, and the twinkle in her eyes dimmed. “The keystone still has issues though, making it fragile, so wherever we go in Terrene, we’re searching for anything that can help stabilize it, as it powers the barrier.”
“What is the keystone, exactly?”
Jade blinked at him. “It’s one of six other keystones that are linked together to make the barrier. I’ve never gotten an actual explanation of how it works. Focuses the manipulation of time and Void, I think. Either way, no keystone, no barrier. No barrier, no safety.”
Ben’s brow furrowed, and he rubbed his jaw as he stared up at the barrier again. “I’ve never seen anything like that. I would remember something that majestic.”
Krista tucked her hands in a pose that mirrored Jade’s and shot her a crooked grin. “I still say you stole all that from Zak.”
Jade pushed Krista’s shoulder with a light-hearted scowl. “Of course not!” She laughed. “I got it from Mister Monomi.”
“And Zak got it fro—” Krista started before Briar interrupted, slinging an arm over both girls’ shoulders.
“If you ladies don’t mind, before the next history lesson starts, I’m going to escape with our friend and find him clothing that normal people wear.”
Jade and Krista laughed as color rose to Ben’s cheeks. Dressed in borrowed clothes, he didn’t stand out too badly, but Zak’s black shirt pulled tight on Ben’s chest and hung loose in the sleeves. Kerlee’s crimson pin-striped pants may look halfway decent on Kerlee, but on Ben they were downright comical. Better than Ben’s odd, swirled, multi-hued pants and stiff shirt with the foreign three-color patch on the sleeve, but only by a bit.
Jade slipped her hand through the slit in her jacket to reach her money pouch. She pulled out four deep blue lut and passed them over to Briar. “Father gifted this to Ben for clothing, but I’m willing to bet that Ben doesn’t know his money.”
Briar held one out for Ben to examine.
“Can’t say I’ve seen anything like this before.” Ben held up the lut and bounced it in his hand. “What is this? Some sort of rock?”
Krista rolled her eyes and propped a hand on her hip. “It’s actually a mineral, but we use it as a currency. And that’s quite a bit there.”
The unfamiliar currency rolled in his palm and slipped out of his fingers. He squatted to grab it off the cobblestones, but Krista beat him to it. She dumped the lut back into his hand. “Don’t lose all that!” she exclaimed.
“Sorry, sorry.” Ben handed it back to Briar. “I’ll let him handle my finances for now.”
Briar snorted and tucked the money away. “Better in my hands than these two—they’ll spend every last bit you own on some sort of tech.”
“Will not!” Jade protested, cheeks burning. She dug the point of her boot into a cobblestone and muttered, “I’d save some for clothes and necessities.”
Ben laughed. “But important things first.”
“Basically.”
“Like I said.” Briar shook his head before kissing Krista and looking over his shoulder at Ben. “Better in my hands than either of these two.” Briar leaned toward Jade and lowered his voice. “How about you ladies discuss the plan while I distract our new friend?” She nodded, and his cheek dimpled with a grin. Briar pointed to a nearby tailor’s shop and steered Ben toward it.
Jade and Krista turned to walk down a side street lined with stores for airship parts and mechanical inventions, with the odd café or gambling den peppered into the mix. Old metal signs hung over each doorway, and several vendors had wares displayed on tables in front of their shops.
Jade’s gaze snagged on a faded sign in one of the windows that stated in bold letters, “Monomi not welcome.” She hunched her shoulders with a sigh and kicked at a pebble in the road. “Everything happened almost twenty years ago. Can’t they get over it?”
Krista didn’t even glance at the sign. Jade moped and complained about this topic often enough whenever in Doldra that Krista had probably been expecting the comment. True to form, Krista silently patted Jade’s shoulder.
Jade believed Zak’s side of the story regarding the fall of the Doldras family: the Monomi had defended the royal family and the barrier as best they could when in the face of betrayal. And the Reformers that led the attack had done a wonderful job of turning the public against the Guardian clan, despite the losses the Monomi suffered. It was simply too hard for the public to look beyond the deaths of the royal family.
“I think I’m going to go by the royal mausoleum later,” Jade announced. It had been over a year since she’d last laid flowers at her uncle, aunt, and baby cousin’s family monument. She’d also go by the cemetery for royal staff, and lay flowers at Miss Clara’s grave on behalf of Uncle Andre. And then finish her rounds by stopping at Zane’s plot, and tell his memorial stone of Zak’s latest adventures. Zak couldn’t visit his elder brother’s burial spot, but Jade could—and would—on his behalf.
Stupid law against Monomi. Jade kicked at a weed growing through the cobblestone cracks. Won’t even let a good man visit his own family in his own house, or pay respects to a fallen family member, or—
“I’ll go with you.” Krista interrupted Jade’s mental tirade and stepped behind Jade to allow a couple enough space to exit a shop. Jade ignored the wide-eyed looks the two gave her loose, multi-pocketed pants. Krista pointed to a shop that advertised luminary crystals and tilted her head. “Do you think it could happen again?”
“An entire royal family being wiped out overnight?”
“Yes.” Krista followed Jade into the store, and they both nodded to the shopkeeper, who greeted them. They reached the back counter that held wooden racks of loose crystals that would fit into the headlamps. Krista continued, “I mean, it’s not like it’d happen here in Doldra again. Not with your queen living in Aerugo.”
Jade hummed as she picked up a blue crystal, turned it over, frowned at a crack in the facet, and returned it to the display tray. “It could happen. Maybe in Lasim, but the politics there aren’t bad right now. Aerugo…is too powerful and scary for anyone with half a brain to consider doing that there.”
Krista’s laugh chimed pleasantly against Jade’s bitter chuckle. Anyone with half a brain would avoid Aerugo as if it were a pyrodragon.
“Change of steamtrans.” Krista leaned against a pillar to the right of the tray and crossed her arms with care to not hurt her still-mending arm. She tugged her gloves up with a shiver. “What’s our plan?” She cast Jade a speculative glance. “You seem fairly invested in helping Ben.”
Jade sucked in a breath and clutched the pink crystal she was inspecting. She shook her head and set the stone back on the velvet tray. “I only want to help him remember where he’s from. There’s nothing more to that.” Jade skimmed her finger over a smooth blue stone and turned with a small sigh to face her friend. “As for leaving, I’m torn. I want to help my father, but…”
“But we’ve gone over this before, Jade. It’s your choice. If you decide to leave and work on an airship that will let you work up to being a captain, Briar and I will follow you.”
“I know.” Jade scuffed the pointed toe of her boot against the wood floor. “And Zak’s already starting to steam me with his mother-hen act, but I do want to help Ben. And he’s probably going to be staying on for a few more runs.”
Krista nudged Jade with her shoulder. “Then we’ll stay till Ben has his memory back.” Krista pulled on one of her dark curls, and it sprang back into place when she let go. A small smirk played on her lips. “Unless you change your mind at that point.”
Jade rolled her eyes with a scoff. “I have no plans for anything of that nature, thanks.” She handed Krista the two stones she’d picked out. Krista held them up toward the window to examine them. Then she nodded. They strolled through the store, checking out other crystals of interest and ogling a luminary crystal that stood as high as Krista.
“He likes you, you know.”
Krista grinned and casually rubbed the back of her gloved knuckles against her cheek as if the conversation didn’t amuse her as much as it clearly did. “Possibly Ben. Definitely Zak.”
Jade offered the shopkeeper a wan smile as Krista placed their purchases on the counter. Jade leaned a hip against it and turned back to Krista, trying to understand how her friend had reached such a conclusion. “You’re teasing me. If Zak liked me, he wouldn’t act like he has been. And Ben?” Jade shook her head and tried to ignore her traitorous heart flutter.
“I’m perfectly serious.”
Jade huffed a small laugh and closed her eyes.
“No, listen to me.” Krista widened her stance and crossed her arms. “Aerugo happened in summer, you two started getting closer, then suddenly,” Krista snapped her fingers, “he’s brooding and distant and can’t stay consistent in how he acts toward you. He likes you. I’m betting he got warned off by some over-protective family member.” She smirked.
Jade’s stomach sank, and she pulled out her leather money pouch, counted out three yellow lut, and handed them to the shopkeeper. “There’s a difference between liking someone and mothering them.”
Krista shook her head. “A mother hen doesn’t follow someone around, protecting them and moping over it.” She scooped up the bag of crystals from the shopkeeper and helped tuck them in Jade’s satchel. “What if your father warned him away? Trust me, there’s more to his feelings than you think.”
Jade wrinkled her nose skeptically. “Since when does Zak listen to anything my father says? Besides,” she took a deep breath and released her words in a gush, “I’ve decided to move on. I can’t keep up with his distance and then stifling protectiveness.” She stared out the window and tried to ignore Krista’s dropped jaw and the shopkeeper who lingered by the counter. “If he wanted to pursue something with me, he had a chance, and he left it. I need to move on.”