Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3)

by S. M. Blooding

  Du’a screeched beside me, meeting me wing beat for wing beat. We shared the same currents, sinking lower in the sky, closer to the swelling ocean, the salt water spraying us as the waves crashed. The rain was warmer down there, easier to bear.

  Barely.

  This was a really big storm.

  The lights of Ino City beckoned through the flashes of lightning and cannon blasts. Thunder roared, blaring out all sounds, vibrating through my chest, making the metal feathers of my wings rattle.

  Then I heard the all too familiar sound of screaming.

  I stopped, my wings beating hard to maintain altitude.

  A ship fell from the sky battle.

  My wings were not designed to fly while standing still. The wind ripped around me, pushing me backward, then pulling me forward again. There was nothing I could do for those people. If that really was Tokarz, then those people had known what they were signing up for.

  Unless, they hadn’t.

  I couldn’t think of that. I turned and headed toward Ino City again.

  Letharan have a veil that falls from their hood that shields their city from wind and water. It’s how the city can survive under the waters. I pressed my palms to my sides and dove for the churning ocean waves, fear thrumming through me.

  I was an airman. Water was not a friend of mine.

  The currently pulled hard. The waves pushed me down.

  Du’a’s serpentine tail latched onto my arm.

  Fighting through the water, I propelled us both toward the calm, blue water that beckoned before us.

  Once we crossed under the protective wall of the lethara, the pull, the fight, the battle of the ocean was gone. Tucking my wings in, I pushed with my feet and hands to the top, my lungs ready to explode. My mouth cleared the calm water and I gulped the air like a starving man. Oh, how I hated being under water.

  Du’a chirped as she breathed beside me, then took the air, flinging water off her feathers like a mini storm.

  I scanned the docks. Minimal activity. No ships in port. The Ino dinghies were tipped upside down in a long line on the far end. There was no way I could leave the water this close to the city and not be spotted, but I hoped. I hoped the right people would see me and would not spread word of my arrival.

  Well, and there would be questions. Who was that strange man flying within the city walls? As far as I knew, no one had wings.

  Du’a squawked and gained altitude.

  I looked up. The hood of Ino’s lethara towered high overhead, nearly a hundred metres. That’s where I needed to go. Ino City’s control room because that was where my mother would be.

  I pushed out of the water using my wings and feet—which was not nearly as graceful as it sounded—and flew upward. I released my Mark just enough to heat the liquid off of my body. I couldn’t leave puddles. I had to work in stealth for this to work.

  The docks zipped away and was replaced by the market, then several levels of housing, and more buildings. Staying as close to the screen as I could, I increased my speed, not caring about the city. I’d seen it before. The final level appeared and I slowed. More people. More opportunities to be caught.

  Staying high, I flew toward the stone tower-like structures that made up the family quarters. An open tiled floor connected each tower. I flew to the top-most level and ducked along the exterior wall, perching precariously on a ledge not meant for standing on. No one populated the blue tile in front of the elevator platform. Beyond that rested the control room.

  My heart racing, I stepped out of hiding and into the bare space. I hop-stepped as quickly as I could to the nearest column, turning my nose a little at the smell. I wasn’t raised around letharan. I wasn’t used to the dank, musty odor the older, larger jellyfish had. The thick tendril column pulsed beside me.

  Du’a hurtled through the air past my head and settled on a rafter in the next room.

  Settling my wings along my back and tucking them in as far as the mechanism would allow, I took in a deep breath and prayed I would find the information I was looking for.

  ARE WE CONNECTED? I ASKED, projecting my thoughts toward Du’a.

  We are.

  I pushed past the thrill of hearing her voice and listened to the conversations in the command room. So far, no one had spotted me. The column I hid behind was thick. Everyone was busy, too busy to look for an intruder who should not be there.

  What did I need? I asked myself, fighting the blind instinct to step out of hiding and confront my mother. Where was my sister? Had my mother really destroyed my fleet using Tokarz to do so? Was she really planning a blood purge?

  No. I was not good at politics and that woman excelled at them. I needed to listen. Listen. And hope that I got the information I needed so I could develop a plan to save my sister and as many Ino as I could.

  “Where are they?” Ino Nami demanded, her hands fisted behind the wide, blue obi bow of her sash, her voice crackling with age.

  “Just out of radar range, Koko Heika,” a meek mannered female said, bowing her head.

  I had never in my life heard my mother, or any person of the tribes, addressed in this manner. I vaguely recalled these words and what they meant, but they were so ancient. Empress? Had the technician really just called my mother Empress?

  “He has better radar,” Mother spat. “What do my eyes in the sky see?”

  “They are fighting, Koko Heika,” a man said. He lifted one headphone from his ear and turned to her. “So far, we only see his planes.”

  “Any sight of his other vessels? I want to see what he’s done, how he’s modified them. I want Balbir’s ships to draw him into battle.”

  Balbir Shankara? The two largest tribes; Ino and Shankara.

  Our League of Cities was too new, to inexperienced, too small. If we stood up to them, if we fought, we didn’t stand a chance.

  “Sama,” a familiar voice said, his tone laced with concern. I sought out Ino Yotaka’s weathered form, finding brief comfort in the craggy features of my old instructor. “Be careful. Balbir is not a man to command easily.”

  A temporary wall spanned two columns, partially closing off the control room. Behind the column, I was too exposed, though, hiding behind the thin wall didn’t add much more concealment. I ducked behind it anyway.

  “Where is the Han?” Ino Nami demanded.

  The Han? I prayed to the master of the holy Library that my mother had not asked the Han’s position because the tyrant was an ally. The Ino, Shankara, and the Han?

  “He is not good in this kind of fight, Sama Nami.”

  For the love of dirt! My mother had created an alliance of her own to rival the power of the League of Cities? Because I had left her? Because I refused her control?

  I shouldn’t be surprised.

  Yet, I was.

  “I am aware, Yotaka-saan.” She spun on him with a snarling sneer. “And I think you forget your place. Where are the El’Asim’s vessels? Where are his airships?”

  “In the storm, Koko Heika,” the first female said, her voice barely over a whisper.

  “In this storm?” Ino Nami stilled. “Impossible.”

  “We knew he was making modifications.” Yotaka took a step forward, his hands tucked into his large, bell sleeves. “He may not be a brilliant tactician, but he is well adept at design.”

  “What is he thinking?”

  “I believe,” Yotaka said, raising his voice and turning his head in my direction, “he is ensuring his fleet is not decimated.”

  I jerked, my breath caught in my throat. Had he seen me? I’d been sure no one had. Would he betray my location?

  “Perhaps you did your job too well when you ordered the destruction of his Family.”

  “You don’t have to yell it, you senile old man.”

  The breath escaped from my body as the full weight of their words crashed into me. She’d been the one to murder my tribe on the day my sister had wed. My mother. My own mother.

  My mother.

&nbs
p; No. She was no longer my mother.

  Suspecting something like this and then hearing it out of her own mouth changed things. It added substance to my will, my want for revenge.

  My Mark hissed beside either ear.

  I balled my hands into fists. The wall I hid behind was thin and flammable. I quieted my Mark, pushing down my rage.

  “It was never a true Family in the first place. Their blood was tainted, mixed.”

  “But pure enough to bond.”

  Ino Nami pierced Yotaka with a steely gaze. “Able to bond, yes. If their blood had been pure, they would have been able to do so on a more regular basis.”

  “We lost many bonded when you destroyed his Family.”

  Her face screwed up, her lips twisted. “We lost few bonded. The number was so minuscule as to be worth the cleansing!”

  Bonded? What did blood have to do with bonds? Was she talking about the bond our tribe shared with the falcons? The one I was developing with Du’a and my lethara? The bond I wasn’t supposed to have?

  She spun and walked in sweeping steps towards me.

  I scrambled to hide completely behind the temporary wall, praying there wasn’t enough light behind me to provide a shadow through the screen. How had Yotaka seen me? Would she find me as well? And what happened if she did?

  “It is imperative we cleanse the blood, Yotaka-saan.” Ino Nami stopped several metres away from me and turned back to the command room.

  The second confirmation. The only other thing I needed with Oki’s location.

  “We are all aware of our priorities, Sama Nami.” Yotaka walked sedately past her. He met my gaze and flicked it behind me.

  I moved as far as I could, but a tiled wall blocked any further movements.

  “I sometimes wonder, my faithful friend.” Ino Nami’s voice carried to me with ease, giving me the impression she faced me once again. Her tone softened, which with Ino Nami was a bad thing, something I’d learned at an early age. “Which side of this war you’re on.”

  Yotaka’s footsteps led away from my hiding place. “You know as well as any of us that we have no choice. We are all slaves to the bond. You control us through your bond.”

  That…that didn’t make sense.

  She expelled a tight breath, her steps following his. “Do you think he would come out of hiding if I message him? Tell him his half-blood sister is about to die?”

  If she did that, what would my response be? Would that give me the invitation I needed?

  “I believe,” Yotaka said, “that were you to release that information, you would have a fight on your hands. Do you wish to draw him here peacefully, or at war?”

  “I could swat that child. I have more power in my city than he does in his entire league.”

  “As that may be, Sama Nami.” Yotaka bowed his head. “How do you wish to draw him out and what do you intend?”

  She released a long sigh. “Call Tokarz. Bring him into the battle. Let him trumpet his triumph of destroying the El’Asim Family from the sky. If Synn thinks he can hide in a storm all night, he is wrong. Why hasn’t he at least made contact with the city? I thought for sure he’d make a sniveling plea to maintain peace while making a dramatic act of protecting me.”

  Yotaka flicked a hand inside his sleeve. “Perhaps he is busy.”

  “Or perhaps he can’t be made to pay his mother a visit while her city is under attack.”

  “You ordered the attack on your city.”

  “He does not know that.”

  “No.” Yotaka sighed. “He does not.”

  Someone touched my arm with hesitant fingers.

  I shot my attention in the direction of the newcomer.

  A woman a good head shorter than me and immaculately dressed in Ino’s colors stared at me with big, frightened brown eyes. Her gaze darted in the direction of the command room, then toward the door.

  I nodded once, looked to the command room to see where everyone’s attention was, and ducked out of the room.

  A guard stood at the elevator.

  My Mark hissed as I called it.

  He lifted a hand, palm down. “Are you all right?” he whispered to the woman.

  She walked around me, her soft-soled feet making no sound. “We must hurry. Oki needs your help.”

  I narrowed my gaze and kept my voice low. “Who are you?”

  “She is your sister’s best friend,” the man answered, wrapping a protective arm around her shoulders.

  “Chie?” I glanced over my shoulder, my breath relaxing in my chest. Someone to trust. “I hadn’t realized so much time had passed. You’ve grown.”

  She ducked her head. “I hope you have as well.”

  Only time would tell. “You must be Hitoshi, then.”

  He nodded, his lips flat.

  Finally, luck. Or, perhaps, not luck, but adaptability on their part. “Do you know where my sister is?”

  Hitoshi nodded.

  “There will also be a blood purge,” I said softly.

  Chie turned to her husband, her lips tight as if to say, “I told you so.”

  “I have a vessel that can fit two hundred if we keep quarters tight.” But how was I going to get invited?

  All I had to do was call her and “make a sniveling plea to maintain peace while making a dramatic act of protecting” her. I didn’t like it, but I could make it work.

  “I’ll call Ino Nami when I get back to my ship. I’ll beg entry to the docks. You secret your people onto the ship while I’m with Ino Nami.”

  Hitoshi released a shaky breath. “How will you get back to your ship?”

  “The same way I came. Please tell me that you can get my sister out of whatever cell Mother put her in and onto my ship while I’m keeping Ino Nami busy.”

  “Kenta is working to free her as we speak,” Chie whispered, her voice trembling. “Synn, thank you.”

  I saw the girl I remembered in the woman before me in that moment. “I’ll do what I can.”

  Hitoshi nodded once. “We’ll relay the rally point.”

  I stepped away, my attention on the open ceiling. Du’a.

  Already communicating to Fajr.

  Jamilah’s falcon. Excellent. “I will bring my ship—”

  “Is it truly as big as they say?” Hitoshi whispered after me.

  I looked at him over my shoulder. “Yes.” I didn’t know what anyone had said, but I’d just told him we could take two hundred people. If that wasn’t answer enough for him, I didn’t know what would suffice.

  I unfurled my wings, called upon the essence of my Mark, not the heat of it, and leapt into the air. My mechanical wings beat once, twice, and on the third beat, the air was mine. Circling back, Hitoshi and Chie were nowhere to be seen.

  I ducked over the exterior wall and shot under the hood of Ino’s lethara, Du’a at my wingtip. I need the Layal to meet the Maizah. Tell the Umira Nuru to relocate.

  He is not well suited for that ship.

  It will not be our greatest play of strength, no. However, we need the space and I cannot allow Ino Nami to see exactly how strong we are. Tell Ryo to hold back. I need all the other ships to hold back. The less she knows, the better.

  And Iszak Tokarz?

  I glanced at the falcon as we dove for the ocean. He’s bait. We cannot allow ourselves to be tempted.

  She turned her elegant head away, but a feeling of pride filtered between our tentative bond.

  I didn’t understand the game Ino Nami played.

  But that didn’t mean I’d be blindly led either.

  THE LAYAL GAINED ALTITUDE WITHIN the body of the storm.

  Lightning flared to my right, the thunder rumbling around me, vibrating my chest.

  Her wide body towered overhead. The thermal I coasted on disappeared as a gust threw me toward the raging center of the storm.

  I flexed my mechanical wings, the rest of my body stiffening as though it could assist. Wind, rain, and dark clouds twisted upward in a deafening tornado. If I did
n’t watch it, I’d be sucked into that with nothing more to protect me than whips of lava which were completely useless when battling a cloud.

  The side galley doors rose.

  I pushed with as much power as I thought my wings could handle and struggled against the pull of the wind.

  Within about thirty metres, the terrible pull released me. I shot into the galley with a great deal more speed than I’d anticipated.

  Haji’s troops fell to crouched positions, their arms raised to shield their heads.

  I held my shriek of surprise to myself and beat madly with my wings to control my flight into the wall.

  Du’a offered a guiding presence, her mind showing my body how to aid my wings, my Mark how to properly control them. If I hadn’t bonded to a bird who could give me such intuitive information, I never would have mastered flight.

  I snorted to myself, dusting myself off. Mastered. Right.

  Wind tore through the wide space, but it was much quieter in there than outside. My ears rang with the quiet.

  Haji let out a long sigh, his expression dry as he came to stand beside me. His dark hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail, his dark eyes focused. His leather armor fit him snug. He’d come a long way in the past several months. He’d fleshed out and become a man, a warrior. “Tell me you did that on purpose.”

  His men and women glared at me, and shook their heads with smiles of mirth at their leader.

  “I wish.” I wrestled with the metal buckle. Looking at it, I saw the problem. In my battle with the wind, my Mark had fused the buckle together. “The winds inside the storm are brutal.”

  Haji’s expression grew even drier. “That this surprises you should amaze me. That’s a Class Three storm, Synn. No one has flown inside a Class Three storm.”

  I called up my Mark and sliced through the leather strap. I would have to find something else, something that I wouldn’t destroy each time I wore it. “Not that we’ve heard of, Haj. But remember, there was a tribe who lived inside the storms.”

  “With flying ships with sails.” He shook his head. “No. They did not fly in a storm like this one.”

  He was probably right. Shedding the flight suit, I walked along the catwalks toward the command dome.