by Blooding, SM
Ryo stood at Mother’s right hand.
“Just now,” he hissed back and stepped inside the circle. “If I may, Ino Nami?” he asked with a bow.
Mother nodded.
“Wha’ did the explosions sound like?”
Sabine shook her head, turning toward him, her hands spread. “Like explosions.”
“Were they pop-pop-pop-pop, or were they more like major booms?”
“There was popping and then a boom.”
“An’ the button in his hand,” Joshua pressed, “did i’ blink with a red light?”
She nodded. “It did.”
“An’ were there large plumes of purple smoke?”
Again, she nodded.
Joshua’s face fell in devastation. “I know wha’ he used, and we need to talk ta the lethara righ’ away, make sure that he does no’ drift in this tide.”
“Why is that?” Mother demanded.
“Because,” Joshua said, already leaving the circle. “Varik knew we were here an’ his real target was this lethara.”
Keeley’s eyes closed.
“The tide will be filled with poison. We need to get ‘im out of it now.”
CHAPTER 22
KEEP YOUR DOUBT, YOUR FEAR
People scrambled as orders were issued. My ears started to pop viciously. We were dropping in depth. I looked at my mother with concern. I had no idea if we were going to survive in the deep waters should something go wrong.
She reached over and covered my hand with hers, the gesture soft and so unlike the woman I’d known all my life. She looked to a man in a dark blue uniform. “Are we at a safer depth?”
“We are, Nami shu.”
She nodded, her chin high, her hand tightening around mine minutely. “Assess the waters and the damage. Young Bahrain, you are the oldest, are you not?”
Joshua turned to her and nodded. “I am, Ino Nami, but I am no’ fit to lead. I will attend to your lethara in any way I can. However, I will need Keeley as quickly as ye can spare ‘er. She has more knowledge of this compound than I do.”
Mother raised an eyebrow, a half smile on her face, similar to a look she gave Oki when she back-talked. “Then perhaps you should switch places?”
Keeley’s expression opened with hope.
Joshua’s eyes widened in alarm as he bowed. “I would beg tha’ we no’, Ino Nami, with the deepest of respect.”
“I will not acquiesce this request.” Her expression was that of a smug mother teaching her young a valuable lesson. “Miss Keeley, if you would please assist our lethara in any way possible?”
Keeley leapt to her feet and followed the man in uniform.
“Mr. Bahrain.” The gesture to Keeley’s now vacant chair was a command.
He rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh of defeat. “Joshua.” He took his seat. “Why does she ge’ ta be Miss Keeley and I’m Mr. Bahrain?”
“Joshua shu,” Mother said, both polite and authoritative at the same time.
We stayed there for hours, discussing the details of the attack and the reasons behind it. However, without Keeley there, we completed our conversation in Sakin. Joshua was…fairly good at it. Well, he was able to get the gist of everything that was said. He just had a terrible time speaking.
“Why doesn’t Synn just surrender?” one of the younger council members asked, standing up. “Why should the rest of us suffer while the Hands try to get him back? What makes him so special?”
I had no answer for that. I was beginning to think the same thing. But was that reason, or was it the voice, my compulsion?
Mother looked to me to defend myself.
I rose and cleared my throat. “I might turn myself in. I had thought I could do more good out here. There is a chance that if I remain in Nix’s care, I might become a weapon for the Hands, not a tool for the betterment of the world. I have no wish to condemn others to die so that I might hide. In doing so, I help no one, certainly not myself.”
The man sat down, unnerved.
That wasn’t my intent. I honestly had no idea what I should do. “We, as leaders of our Families, have a huge responsibility. We are responsible for the life and safety of our Family members. Our actions—all of them, big and small—have great impact on the world around us.”
The man with the silvered pointed beard rose to his feet. “I hear your words, young El’Asim. You have truly aged since last we met.”
I bowed my head. “I have learned much.”
Joshua stood. “Bu’ we have also learned much about the Hands.” He took my shoulder and pushed me back in my seat. “Attack we must them.”
Mother raised her hand. “You may speak Handish. It hurts trying to understand what you’re saying.”
Joshua let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I mean no disrespect.” He turned back to the circle. “We know tha’ their ships are made of metal.”
“And our weapons cannot breach their hulls,” someone shouted.
The silver bearded man sank into his chair, listening intently.
“Because you do no’ know where ta strike.” Joshua paused, a smirk on his lips. “I do. We can teach you.”
“Also,” Ryo said, taking a step forward, glancing to our mother for permission. After her nod, he continued. “There is a weapon we might be able to create that would give us a slight advantage.”
“What weapon are you speaking of, Ryo shu?” the man wearing the tall black hat asked. “And why have we not heard of this before?”
“Because it has not been invented before,” Ryo said and took a step back, gesturing to Joshua.
He nodded. “Synn and I developed a weapon tha’ uses his Mark as the ammunition.”
The council murmured.
“His Mark is fire,” a woman said somewhere to my right.
“Nearly,” Mother said. “It is different, which is why I think I did not see it at first. It is lightning and fire, and it mimics lava.”
Everyone turned to their neighbor and whispered.
Everyone except for the man with the pointed beard. His eagle eye did not leave Mother.
“We knew this might happen,” she said, calming the voices of the council. “That our Marks might blend, that a new Family might be born. This is how the Great Families of Bahrain and El’Asim were created.”
I stared at her.
“It’ll take a bit of research and trial an’ error, some minor experimentation,” Joshua continued, his hands flopping with each word, “but I think we can modify the basic design to accommodate yer Mark.”
“What are you saying?” the pointed beard man asked.
“I’m saying tha’ I can give ye a weapon tha’ uses your Mark, fire, as a weapon, an’ I can teach ye where to use it to disable their ships.” Joshua turned, staring at each member of the council in turn. “I know how ta take down the air boats, the bi-planes, their queen ships. I know how ta take out their submersibles.”
Mother straightened, her eyes landing on me, filled with quiet alarm. “Submersibles?”
He turned to her and nodded. “Yes. They ‘ave boats under the water.”
The council members stirred, whispering to one another, keeping their eyes on Joshua.
“I can even show ye how ta find ‘em. We can build you a radar with possible underwater applications tha’ will tell us exactly where they are.”
“You can do this?” the woman with the nasally voice asked.
“We’ll need materials.” Joshua turned back to Mother. “Materials tha’ you don’t have.”
“What do you need?” she asked carefully.
He took in a deep breath. “They’ll be difficult to obtain. I have enough ta ge’ started an’ ta make the tool fer this, but we need a type of metal compound tha’ ye do not use. They do. They mine it an’ then alter it.”
“How much of this will we need?” the bearded man asked, remaining in his seat.
Joshua shrugged. “Until we know exactly wha’ we intend to do, I can’t say. But if we fi
nd one of their submersibles and disable it, we could remove the boilers. We can melt ‘em down an’ tha’ should give us enough raw materials for whatever we might need.”
“And what kind of casualties can we expect?”
Joshua paused, his head tipped, and glanced at me.
I stood. “We don’t know. We are not practiced at underwater combat. However, we do know how to disable the boat.”
“And if ye’re not carrying anythin’ big or metal, you can sneak up on the thing practically undetected. They do use sonar, however, which is somethin’ I’ve been playin’ around with and never quite mastered. Damn Browning an’ his blasted—”
I cleared my throat and raised my eyebrows.
He nodded. “Right. Quite right. Anyway, I can use the same principles of radar to create somethin’ similar to sonar, but more exact.”
“Exact is good,” Mother said. “We are well versed in underwater battles and maneuvers.” She nodded to Sabine. “They will have no metal parts on them.”
Joshua nodded. “Then it’ll just be a matter of getting’ onboard and removing the boilers.”
“Which we should be able to do,” I said.
He nodded and turned back to the council. “I understand tha’ the casualties have been severe. They’ve destroyed only the one city so far. Who knows how much further they’ll take it. Right now, we know tha’ only one man is in pursuit after one other man.” He shook head. “Tha’s not so terrible. Is it?”
The council members looked mildly ashamed.
I closed my eyes and shook my head.
He turned to me and leveled me with a hard look. “It’s too bloody early to give up now.”
I raised my chin. Was it?
He turned to my mother. “Ino Nami, I think m’ time would be better spent in plannin’ as this is time sensitive. The faster we get this done the be’er. We don’t know what else Varik has planned, or what he might destroy next.”
Mother nodded and gestured for him to leave.
Haji stood. “How is Varik tracking Synn? How did he know that we were so close? We should be nearly untraceable underwater, cloaked by the lethara as we are.”
The man with the pointed beard narrowed his gaze at me but said nothing.
I looked to my mother and murmured, “Could it have anything to do with the compulsion?”
She paused, thinking, then nodded. “It is possible. We should check with Ino Kilak.”
I swallowed, a cold chill running over me.
She raised her gaze to Haji. “You bring up a good point. We will do what we can to figure out how he is tracking Synn.”
Haji nodded and regained his seat.
“In the meantime, if there is nothing else?”
No one spoke.
“Then we have much to do and very little time. Please assist young Joshua in any way you can. Council is dismissed.”
I rose, not quite sure where I would be most needed. I decided to go find Keeley. Granted, I wasn’t very good with chemistry, but if she needed something applied to the lethara, my hands were deft enough and fairly useless otherwise.
“Synn,” Mother said, her hand settling on mine. “Stay. I would have a word with you.”
Sabine grabbed Yvette as soon as it was possible and the two walked out arm in arm.
The room emptied, except for the man with the pointed beard.
Mother motioned for him to join us. “Yotaka, I believe you have something you would like to say.”
He bowed low, keeping his gaze level with hers. “The boy needs training. He has had none since his Mark was formed.”
I nodded. “They gave me theory, and Joshua showed me how to call it up. I’ve experimented a little on my own. I could use the training, sensei.”
“I would be most honored if Ino Nami shu would allow me to instruct him.”
She bowed her head slightly. “It would be my honor to accept. However, there is the issue of compulsion.”
His beady gaze shifted in my direction in interest.
I clenched my hands into fists and looked away.
She tipped her head in my direction. “I would feel much better if you were taught after your head was your own and not that of our enemy.”
I fought to relax my jaw. She was right. “I understand.”
She kept hold of my hand. “Yotaka, I will send him to you as soon as I think he is fit for your instruction.”
He bowed and backed up until he had left the circle. Then he turned and left us in quiet.
She waited until we were alone before moving my hand to her lap. “I am sorry for the distance I put in our relationship,” she said in my language, Adalic.
I didn’t know what to say. “It must be hard for a mother to be forced to give up her child.”
She nodded. “It is.”
“I’m sure that in order to do so, it helped to create the distance.” As she’d done not only with me, but with Zara as well.
“Yes.” Her eyes met mine, not as a leader, but as a mother, as a person whose heart hurt. There was a vulnerability buried deep within that gaze. “So you understand?”
I paused to ensure my words were chosen correctly. “I’ve seen, yes, so there is some semblance of knowing.” I brought the fingertips of my other hand to my head. “But as far as understanding?” I put my fingertips to my chest. “I don’t know yet.”
She ducked her head. “I do not expect you to.”
I held up my hand, shifting in my chair so that I could see her better. “I lost my father, and for many months, I thought I had lost my Family. I very nearly lost my sense of self.”
Her gaze rose and met mine.
“It’s a new day, Mother.”
She nodded, her other hand cupping my cheek. “Are you here to help us, or are you a weapon meant to destroy us?”
“I believe we all hope to help.” I winced. “Unfortunately, we don’t know if we’re going to be a weapon until we’ve become one.”
She closed her eyes and nodded. “This is what I was afraid of when I mated with your father, but—” She smiled, her eyes opening. “He had his ways.”
I smiled with her, remembering him. “He did at that, didn’t he?”
She patted my hand. “You remind me of him. You’re different, of course. Your mood is darker than his. He was never so sullen.”
“Did he have reason to be?”
Her eyes grew sad and distant. “Each lifetime, each generation has its own burdens to bear.”
She didn’t say anything else.
I had no problem with moments of quiet. As a matter of fact, I kind of preferred them. But there was something I had to know. “Mother.” I didn’t know how to say what my heart needed to ask. The heart didn’t always speak in a language I easily understood.
She allowed me time to figure it out.
I took in a deep breath and tried to meet her gaze. I stared at her hand instead. “What if we fail?”
She didn’t immediately answer.
“What if we don’t get the material Joshua needs? What if we can’t build his radar in time?”
“There will be another plan.”
“But when will enough be enough?” I demanded, finally able to meet her gaze.
Her expression was calm.
“An entire city was destroyed because of me. I nearly got my friends killed because I didn’t want to be—” I choked on the words, bowing my head and clenching my jaw. “—her play toy again.”
She didn’t move, didn’t say anything.
“This is all happening because I was selfish, because I decided to run instead of stand up for myself. How much carnage will be too much?”
“First of all,” she said, scooting forward in her chair and taking both my hands, staring into my eyes with a fierceness I almost felt, “no son of Ino or El’Asim is any bitch’s play toy.”
I closed my eyes.
She didn’t allow it for long. “And secondly,” she shook my hands to get my attention.
/> I breathed, fighting with myself to have the courage to meet her gaze.
When she had it, she continued. “And secondly, we will find a way to keep you safe and away from that vicious woman.”
“But at what cost? What will be an acceptable toll?”
“You said it best when you said that all our actions affect those we lead. Our people know this when they follow us. They understand that we will not be one hundred percent right all the time.”
I opened my mouth to argue.
She reached up and grabbed my chin. “But a true leader understands this as well, and learns to accept it.” She didn’t leave any room for interpretation. “You have to allow yourself to make mistakes.”
I shook my head. Well, at least I tried. She wasn’t really allowing it. I relaxed.
She let go.
“But how does one live with that?” I asked softly.
She sat back a moment, her expression somber, her eyes shaded. “This is what it means to be a leader, to live with the consequences of our errors, the consequences we don’t face, but that others do for us; when others die because we erred in judgment or did not act fast enough. That is our burden. And it’s what makes us better, some of us. It’s what helps us to be better.”
I closed my eyes and bowed my head. “I don’t know if I can do that.”
She put her hand on top of my head, her lips following. “Your father said the same thing after you were born and his father died.”
I looked up. “He did?”
“We all doubt. Those that don’t?” She rose from her chair. “They’re the monsters. Keep your doubt, your fear, but learn to move with it, Synn. Only then will you be the leader our people need you to be.”
CHAPTER 23
WHAT HAD I DONE?
Ino Kilak had quarters on the floor directly below the Family quarters, which made it convenient to meet with her, I guess. She was the Family’s spiritual advisor. Some might even call her a witch.
She was not a joy to be with.
She dug deep into issues I had no wish to touch upon, much less talk to another about. She wanted me to admit things to her, a stranger, someone I didn’t know and didn’t trust. After four days of her prying, digging, reaching, twisting, trying to get me to talk about things I had not admitted to even myself, I’d had enough.