My heart was thumping in my chest. Sukina had performed an act of terrorism I would be named an accomplice to. We’d given them our names and, once they woke up, King Cini III would hear exactly what we’d done.
Sukina took hold of the two remaining hip flasks and tossed one to Faso then one to me. She took the dart and gave it to me to examine. “Sedative. Works in two seconds.”
Ratter scurried back into its place on Faso's sleeve, with Faso’s documents and our passports in its jaw. Faso glared at Sukina. “Sukina you — “
“Look, Faso,” Sukina interrupted. “It was Ratter who made the first move. You can’t put the blame on anyone but yourself.”
“I didn't set him to do anything,” Faso said. “He acted on his own will. His central intelligence is the best I've ever designed, you know? And I'm sure the best you've ever encountered.”
“But you could have kept him disabled,” Sukina said.
“I merely put him on suspend to wake up if there was any true threat, like dragons attacking. It was you who decided to call those beasts in.”
Sukina ignored his rambling. “I guess you'd both better augment.” Augmenting was the term we used for drinking secicao oil. Sukina had already done so, of course, and the effects would last for quite some time.
I nodded and took a sip of the oil. A cooling effect washed over my body, and I was no longer affected by the heat of the island. Any mugginess in my head also cleared and instead a warmth pulsed through me, as lines of faint green began to seep along my veins. Together, the three of us rushed towards Velos, Faso slower than us due to the differences in his secicao blend.
Once I’d climbed the ladder and was seated below Velos’ steering fin, I looked down to see Faso still running towards us. Part of me wanted to take off then and leave him behind. But Ratter, after all, had saved the day, and so Faso had proven useful. Plus, I had no idea what to do with Velos’ armour — in fact, Faso was the only person who knew how to take it off.
Faso soon got here and jumped halfway up the ladder, revealing one of the powers he had developed into his secicao. He landed right at the back of Velos and strapped himself into his seat.
Velos knew what to do next. Without me even giving the command, he launched himself into the air. Around us, war was waging. Torpedoes screamed. Artillery boomed. Gatling guns sputtered from the ground. I looked over my shoulder to see Faso turning some kind of spigot beneath his foot.
“What the hell are you doing?” I shouted back to him.
“Helping Velos augment,” he shouted back. Ahead of me, faint green lines began to pulse along the skin on Velos' neck, just underneath the armour.
At the same time, Sukina was singing some kind of tune.
“On the right!” Faso shouted and I looked over to see a military airship coming from the fortress, much larger than the types that had been buoyed to the custom towers.
Just as quickly as we had spotted the airship, it shot out a fleet of what must have been three-hundred Hummingbird automatons, their round bodies wavering from side to side underneath their whirring propeller blades. Velos had never had to face them off before, but I'd read Sukina's stories of how they could easily swarm Greys. They would take the rider out first with a spark to the head before sending out a barrage of fire into the dragon's flank, eventually bringing the giant down to earth.
But Velos was now augmented with the concoction Faso had put into the armour. Just as soon as the Hummingbirds came into range, I felt a shudder through the armour and its Gatling turrets started firing, causing smoke to rise around us. Velos swerved away from the smoke faster than I'd ever felt him turn — and, at that point, I was grateful for the harness. He charged towards the automatons and, with a roar, beat his wings as fast as a sparrow, knocking a huge number of them away from their cluster. Velos broke through the swarm, circled around and let out a torrent of green flame, much stronger than his usual orange fire: the work of the dragon armour.
The flame washed over the Hummingbirds. All around us, automatons erupted into sparks as the Gatling turrets swivelled and kicked, knocking even more automatons out of the sky.
Of course, the automatons were firing too. A couple of times, my enhanced eyes saw a bullet fast approaching and I quickly ducked out of the way. With Faso's lack of augmented speed, I wondered how he would survive back there. But I didn't dare turn around to look. Sparks flashed off Velos' armour around our feet but he seemed unscathed, merely letting his green fire rage into the swarm of Hummingbirds that had now started to retreat.
The remaining automatons regrouped and joined an even greater swarm that had emerged from hatches on the dirigible’s hull. I looked at them in dismay — there were just too many of them.
“Get high,” Faso shouted. “They can't reach you above four-thousand feet.”
I didn’t hesitate to react. I pulled back on Velos’ steering fin and sent him upwards before the automatons could swarm on us like locusts. We broke through a low-lying cloud and a sudden chill hit me, which went quickly away once my augmented body adjusted to the temperature change. I looked down to see the Hummingbirds wavering beneath us, unable to push up any higher. We passed over an encroaching black shrapnel-flak cloud. Velos wouldn’t have been able to get high enough to do this if he didn't also have secicao running through his veins.
An aura of peace washed over the battlefield, or at least it seemed to from our vantage point. Somehow, I could feel how Sukina’s tension had lifted and how the dragonfire had settled down in Velos’ stomach, that horrible burning sensation now dissipating.
Sukina began to sing as we rose higher, but otherwise it was awfully silent here, except for the roar of the wind. Velos continued to sail upwards, so high we had to keep our breathing deep and steady. Up here, not even the airships would be able to reach.
“Under your seat,” Faso shouted. “Mask!”
Between my legs was a compartment with a face mask inside. This had a long muzzle that went over the nose and was attached to an oxygen canister that extended out from the muzzle. It was one of those kinds of mask that made you look ridiculous, and they got incredibly sticky and stuffy beneath the rubber.
I preferred my much more compact bit-and-clip design, similar to what divers used, but without the mask. You clasped your mouth around the horizontal bit and used a clip to block off the nose, drawing oxygen from a small tank on the back while blocking out the secicao fumes. But I'd left this in the luggage behind my seat since I didn’t think I’d need it before the stopover. I sighed and strapped the mask over my face.
Under Sukina's command, the Greys followed us. Beneath, us now, I could see a few fallen dragons, spread out, with guards that looked like toy-soldiers stationed at their heads.
The wind whipped against us and made it hard to speak, let alone breathe, even with the mask on. Soon, the Greys regained formation and formed a protective V-shape in front of us. We followed in their wake.
PART III
General Sako
“Blunders and dragonheats!”
General Sako
CHAPTER 9
The dragons led us to a flotilla of ironclads that had been waiting for us to arrive. The sky had begun to cloud over now. We approached a large frigate with two dirty chimneys puffing out brown smoke. We landed on the quarterdeck, so spotless and shiny, it looked like it had been swept and polished clean. I brought Velos down and a man in navy blue uniform came out of the poop deck and waited for us to dismount.
I was the first down the ladder and the man extended his hand to help me off the final step. Not that I needed it, of course, but small gentlemanly gestures are always nice. The man took my hand again, albeit limply, and shook it.
“The name's Sandao,” he said. “Captain of the Saye Explorer,” he swept out with his arm to indicate the vessel, “and admiral of Gerhaun’s fleet. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.” He had a little charm to him, but a weak demeanour.
“Captain,” Sukina said. “This is P
ontopa Wells, who I'm taking to see Gerhaun. And this” — she gestured towards Faso — “is Mr Gordoni, who I was telling you about the other day.”
The captain approached Faso, eyed Ratter upon his shoulder, and then he took some more cautious steps forward and offered Faso his hand. “Mr Gordoni, I’m glad to see you’ve chosen to come south to join us.”
“Is that so?” Faso said and looked at Sukina. “Well, I wouldn’t quite say I’ve chosen yet. Miss Sako's actions have, in fact, guaranteed that Miss Wells and I have no other choice.”
“I beg your pardon,” Sandao said.
But Sukina was already upon him. “A moment please, captain,” she said.
Sandao gave a meek smile and rubbed his Adam's apple. He then stepped aside and folded his hands behind his back.
“Faso Gordoni,” Sukina said. “You knew perfectly well the risks before you chose to come here. And I didn’t know that King Cini would suddenly want me arrested. So, I will not bear any responsibility for bringing you here. By all means, you're welcome to take the next passenger ship home.”
“What? I'm a wanted fugitive now. I'd have to be a stowaway and then where would I go.”
“I don't know. Tell the king I took you captive under duress. Go and work in his comfortable palaces again, putting cogs together on his royal divans and sipping his wine.”
Faso held his hands out in front of him. “It was you who knocked the lights out of the officer. That’s a crime punishable by death in itself.”
“And whose fault is it, Faso Gordoni, that you can't look after your own automaton?”
“My automaton malfunctioned and aided you. You chose what to do with that hip flask, not Ratter.”
Sukina put her hands on her hips. “What should I have done? Waited for the king's executioner to arrive so I would get hanged? You'd like that, wouldn't you Faso? To see me hang…”
Faso scratched the back of his neck. “I never wanted to be associated with you in the first place. Why did you have to come back?”
“I came to you with an offer from Gerhaun. And you decided to accept it knowing what the consequences might be. You can't hold me culpable for that.”
“Damn it, Sukina. Just damn it.” Faso stormed off to the other corner of the deck.
Now, I wanted to side with Sukina on this, but her logic was starting to distress me a little. I hadn’t been aware of the risks either. Given Sukina and Faso had reached an impasse in their argument, I saw it a good time to express my doubts.
“I'm worried too, Sukina. I mean, I can’t believe you’re a terrorist. Or is there something you’re hiding from me?”
“The king calling us terrorists is just propaganda, Pontopa. Terrorists spread terror and that’s certainly not what at Fortress Gerhaun we aim to do. I’ve always been allowed to travel freely through Tow before. King Cini has always claimed that I have diplomatic immunity. Despite knowing who I work for, if anything happened to one of his kingdom’s favourite authors than there could be quite a lot of public discontent. But today it seemed, for some reason, he’s changed his mind.”
“And why would he do that?”
Sukina shook her head. “I don’t know. But I have a feeling that it has something to do with whoever it was that kidnapped the king’s nephew.”
“And what about me?” I asked. “Am I really a fugitive now?”
“I'll find a way to clear your names, both of you. But Pontopa, I saw how you interacted with the collective unconscious up there. I could feel you reaching out to me and the dragons. There's so much more, I’m sure, that you’ll want to learn.”
“But what about my parents? I mean, what will happen to them?”
Sukina gave a curious frown. “You know,” she said. “I know this might be a little tough to fathom at first, but you may want to consider if they truly are your parents. Your mother, she's a sweet lady, but I couldn’t feel any sign of her reaching out to the collective unconscious. Nothing from her that might suggest she's a dragonseer.”
I looked at her incredulously. “Sukina, that's ridiculous. I mean I have my mother's eyes, don't I?”
“I guess, I guess. Maybe your mother lost her abilities with time. Although, I don’t know if that’s possible. The only dragonseer I knew was my own mother and she passed away when I was a teenager. During the dragonheats…” She looked out over the horizon, towards where the battle had been an hour or so ago. “Your parents will be fine, Pontopa. Cini III is not as bad as his father. He doesn't arrest people for being accomplices. They'll be much safer without you than if you're there.”
“I'm sorry, Sukina,” I said. “About your mother, I mean.”
I glanced over at Faso, glaring out at the water, his shoulders hunched, his posture like a sloth. Much as I disliked the guy, I felt a little sorry for him. I mean did he have family in Slaro too? He could be in the same situation as me. Would either of us be able to return to our parents now, after what we’d done?
I began to cry. Sukina noticed immediately and took me into her arms. “Hey,” she said. “It will be okay.”
I don't recall how long she held me there.
✽✽✽
Once emotions had stopped flying around, Sandao invited us into his steel panelled drawing room. We sat around a circular oak table, cups in front of us. We were already a little jittery after augmenting with secicao, and so Sandao offered some South Saye tea instead.
It had a smoky taste and calmed the nerves well. On the table, a map had been pinned out on which Sandao had stretched out a piece of string to plot the boat's course. Fortress Gerhaun was in the southwest, so I would have expected our route to head west through the Southern approach and then inland via the river. But instead it headed east, right around the Southern Horn and then into a river leading inland. Sandao explained it for my benefit.
“Fortress Gerhaun lies between two rivers,” he said. “The Balmano runs from north to south-west, the largest in the continent, and the Phasni west to east. Such an astounding piece of geography means that the rivers almost divide the entire Southlands, which allowed us to build a canal between them. Unfortunately, a reef connects the islands of the Southern Approach, making it too shallow for us to get through.”
I looked at Sukina. “You must have planned this months ahead,” I said. “If it took them so long to get here, I mean.”
She smiled. “They'd been instructed to wait here for a week. My father always plans it this way whenever I need to travel.”
“Your father?”
“He's Gerhaun’s general. You'll meet him soon. But whether or not you'll like him is another matter.” I didn’t know what she meant by that and I'd taken in so much that day already that I didn't want to ask more questions — my brain was fried.
“Do you want to be escorted?” Sandao asked.
Sukina looked at me, then Faso. “Faso might. But I think it's better if Pontopa and I take the Southern Approach. Gerhaun will be eager to see us as soon as possible.”
“And I will join you,” Faso said. “I came all this way to test the armour once it hits the Southlands. There’s no way I'm letting you see what happens without me. That’s going to be the best part.”
Typical Faso, always putting science first. I guess we were stuck with the guy.
CHAPTER 10
The Southern Barrier traced the bottom of Tow like a smile, and had been fortified by Cini's forces right, left and centre. These fortifications ran from west to east, but the archipelago also forked off at the central western island of Bamfordo. This fork ran southwest through another archipelago called the Southern Approach. The reef underneath the water here gave it a turquoise hue so beautiful it was a delight to fly over it.
The Southern Approach wasn't as well fortified as The Southern Barrier, but it did have various outposts that, although officially owned by Cini, were run by merchant traders. All of these tended to be stationed on the western side of the islands. During the week it took for an airship or steamship to travel s
outh, the crew could stop off at these and drink beer or stay the night in a ramshackle inn.
Given our recent actions, it was best to stay away from these, so we kept on the eastern side of the Southern Approach, characterised by rugged shores and rocky basalt terrain. We'd packed some firewood, as the islands tended to get quite cold at night.
With Velos moving so fast, due to the armour, the journey along the Southern Approach was reduced from six (Velos could move slightly faster than airships) to three and a half days, with three stop-offs. For the first two of these, we slept most of the night virtually as soon as we landed. It was only on the last that we really had a chance to talk.
“Do you still like him?” I asked her. We sat at a campfire roasting some bread twists Mamo had packed in my food-pouch.
“Who?” Sukina said.
I tilted my head towards Faso who was, sleeping on a roll mat on the ground, snoring softly. It was Sukina's turn to stand guard and look out for any signs of Cini's airships, but I'd decided to stay up and accompany her. “Who do you think?”
“Faso, I — He's… Flaming wellies, have you seen how argumentative he can be? And he’s stubborn too.” She looked over at him for a moment, probably to check he wasn't awake.
I smiled. “You know, I've never really been in love.”
“No?”
“Don't get me wrong; I've had boyfriends. It's just I've never really found one that lasted.”
“I guess it's because of Velos,” Sukina said.
I laughed. “Velos takes a lot of my time, yeah.” But something told me that wasn’t quite what Sukina meant.
Like Faso, Velos was snoring softly, hot breath occasionally buffeting the fire but never blowing it out. I turned back to him and smiled, and Sukina smiled too.
“It's wonderful this connection you have to him,” she said.
“How do you mean?”
“It's just a long time since I've been connected to a dragon like that…”
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