Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3)

by S. M. Blooding

  I swallowed. “Communications, tell me we have Oki.”

  The officer nodded, the headphones over his ears, and spoke into the microphone in front of his lips.

  I watched the slow progression of Ino’s thick curtain. “Where is Captain Rose?”

  “Disengaging as directed, Admiral,” Jamilah said. Her shoulders were tight as she stood, her hands clasped behind her back, her eyes glued to the lowering curtain. “We’re running out of time.”

  “Not quite.”

  “Sir,” the communication officer said, his tone brusque, “the cargo hold is secure. The extra weight has been distributed.”

  I nodded. “Secure all hatches. Prepare to seal her up.”

  He repeated my commands into his microphone.

  The portside door opened then shut with a sucking noise. “The refugee flow has stopped,” the man said as he spun the wheel to seal it.

  The communications officer looked up. “We have Ino Oki, sir! And a woman called Chie?”

  “Excellent. Close the galley and dock doors.” My eyes remained on the scene just outside the dome. I peered over the nose. The dock was nearly empty. A few workers stared at us bemused.

  “Sir?” Lash pointed to the curtain.

  Ino’s thick curtain touched the raging ocean waves and sank into the water.

  I walked over to the pilot seat and gripped Lash’s chair. “Take us down.”

  “What are you doing?” someone shouted. “Are you mad?”

  “Communications,” I barked as we lowered toward the awaiting sea. All we had to do was go under the letharan wall. “Are all hatches sealed?”

  “We could use a monitoring system for that,” Jamilah said, more to herself than to me.

  We could.

  The waters within the letharan walls were peaceful, quiet, and calm. Inside the protections, the wind didn’t batter the water. It should make the submersion easier.

  Should.

  “Who is at the atmospheric panel?” I asked.

  “I am, sir. Ichito, sir.”

  “Ichito, I need you to bring the pressure of the ship up.” I gritted my teeth as Lash eased the Layal into the waters.

  The blue water rose outside the dome. A quarter of the way up. No leakage in the command dome. Yet.

  “Pressure’s staying steady, sir,” he answered.

  “I don’t care about steady!”

  The water was nearly at the halfway point when the wings met with it. The Layal kicked, shuddering momentarily.

  “Wings, sir?” Ghaz asked.

  “They should work in the water.” At least, that had been my design intent.

  The Layal smoothed.

  Ghaz remained glued to her seat, her hands assisting better than I had expected. She did not come off as confident, but when her hands controlled a ship, it appeared she could handle herself.

  Fully submerged, the control stick stopped bucking in Lash’s hands. I leaned over Ghaz and hit the button to release the Layal’s tails. A stick disengaged from the co-pilot’s panel. “Use this instead. Control the tails.”

  A blue world enveloped the glass dome.

  “Are the seals holding?” I asked.

  Communications answered. “The cargo bay is holding. There was a slight issue with one hatch, but they’re working to secure it.”

  “Ichito, pressure?”

  “Rising, but steady.”

  I looked through the dark blue water, trying to see the curtain of Ino City.

  “Should I start the propellers, sir?” Jamilah asked.

  “Just work the tails for now.” There. Straight ahead, I could barely make out a slight fuzziness glinting back a faint light, the reflection of the city lights. “Do you see that, Lash?”

  He nodded.

  “See if you can take us underneath it.”

  “Yes, Admiral.”

  “Is anyone following us?”

  “No, sir. None.”

  “None,” I muttered to myself. That didn’t bode well. We were in the water. This would be the time we’d see the LeBlancs if they had joined forces with Ino as I predicted.

  We cleared the curtain wall without further incident.

  “Why didn’t Ino Nami send anyone after us?” Jamilah asked.

  A bolt of lava pierced the raging waves overhead, slicing the water directly in front of us.

  Lash pulled on the controls with a grunt. “I think we figured out why. Ideas on what to do?”

  “WHO ELSE DO YOU KNOW has a lava cannon?” Jamilah asked behind me.

  I swallowed hard to beat down the rage rising to the surface. “Tokarz.”

  We had several options. The best one was to remain under the water. I had a ship full of refugees. Now was not the time to blindly enter into war.

  “We can’t see him,” Jamilah said.

  I craned my neck to peer at the ocean’s rolling surface. I couldn’t make out any lights besides Ino City’s through the bursts of sea foam.

  Another bolt of lava stabbed through the waters, the cool of the water turning it black as it continued.

  “Admiral,” Lash said, turning his chair to face me. “If we want Tokarz, this might be our chance. He’s been in hiding since the games.”

  “He’s only out now because he’s conspiring with Ino Nami as bait,” I said grimly. I didn’t have to ask what Ino Nami was planning. I held blood-tainted Ino citizens in my cargo hold. She wanted me dead, wanted them dead, and she wanted to see what my new ship was capable of. Having me enter into battle with Tokarz was a win-win for her. She couldn’t lose. If I won. If I lost. She won.

  Lash turned to Ghaz. “Fine. Help me take her deeper, then. Can the Layal withstand it, sir?”

  “She was never fully designed to be underwater.” I pressed my top lip into my teeth, trying to push down my worry. “We’re safe as long as we remain shallow.”

  Lash shook his head. “Ichito, keep me informed on the pressure.”

  “Aye, sir!”

  I dropped my attention to the pilot’s radar screen. Smaller, but it allowed him to see what was in his immediate vicinity. How to get out of this situation. That’s what I needed to figure out.

  “Are you sure you want to flee?” Jamilah asked quietly. “He’s here. We’re here. Let’s get our revenge now.”

  How I wished. “His lava cannons could slice this ship in half. There are refugees on board, my sister. Entering into battle now would be irresponsible.”

  “You have an opportunity to assess the man who destroyed your entire Family.” Lash’s shoulders sagged as he leaned an elbow on the edge of the control panel. “Isn’t that worth something?”

  The battle inside me twisted my gut. My mind struggled for rationality, to piece together this puzzle before I got us all killed. My heart, my soul screamed to destroy that man. Kill him. Murder his tribe in front of his eyes.

  “Okay.” Jamilah leveled a hard look at me. “Let me put it to you this way. What strengths do we, as airmen, have in the water?”

  None.

  “We have on-coming, Admiral!”

  I turned.

  A man I’d met several times and still couldn’t recall his name studied the sonar screen. “I think you should see this, sir.”

  I walked to him in three strides and studied the screen. The sonar blipped, showing about a dozen dots. Small. In the next pass, they had closed the distance considerably. Fast.

  LeBlanc. They were a water tribe whose Mark changed their body shape into half-human, half-fish. They could live down there, carry weapons, bombs.

  Jamilah raised her head, her dark gaze distant. “LeBlanc has sided with Ino.”

  “It would appear.”

  The next pass, the number quadrupled, the doubled again.

  “Over a hundred, sir.” The sonar technician paused. “And they’re all heading our way.”

  We couldn’t remain in the water. Not like this. We had two options. Stay in the water and be attacked by the LeBlancs, from which we had no defenses
against. Or leave the protection of the ocean and enter the air battle with Tokarz and his lava cannon.

  I still had a cargo hold full of people I’d just saved from persecution. Extra weight. No defensive or offensive resources in a water or air battle.

  Jamilah leaned on the blank radar screen next to the young man and shook her head, looking at me. “Do you want to remain down here, out of your element and rely only on the weapons you brought?” Jamilah turned a calm gaze on me. “Or do you want a real, fighting advantage? Be up there where you know how to fight best, and bring more weapons to the fray?”

  We only had one real answer. “Let’s bring her up.”

  The waves crashed into us from above as we rose, beating at us and attempting to roll us.

  “Bring in her wings,” Jamilah commanded. “Starting propellers.”

  Ghaz flipped the switch to retract the wings.

  The Layal stabilized.

  “We should probably do something to make her more stable in situations like this. That is if you intend to take us underwater on a regular basis.”

  I didn’t look at Jamilah, but welcomed the distraction of thought, however momentary it might be. “Without sacrificing her lightness in the air?”

  “This is fun and all,” Lash grunted, “but can you save it for another time?”

  “Communications,” I said. “Give me a status report on Captain Rose’s location.”

  “She’s above the storm, sir,” he said. “Three of them were lost in the battle.”

  “How’s her ammunition?”

  “Nearly empty.”

  “Will she be joining us?”

  “Negative, sir. She asks you to call Colonel Bennen.”

  If we needed them. “Any sight of Ino’s planes?”

  “They disengaged and retreated when the captain did, Admiral,” the radar technician answered.

  We broke free of the ocean waves, spray cascading off us in sheets.

  Jamilah took a step forward, craning her neck to peer through the glass. “Unfurl the wings.”

  “Aye, Commander,” Ghaz said, flipping the switch.

  The Layal shook as the wings caught the battering winds.

  The only thing in our immediate view was raging storm and towering ocean waves.

  “Lash,” I said, trying to keep my voice as calm as possible. A wave taller than the Layal was long rose next to us, gaining in height and power. If it found us, it could destroy us.

  “I see it, sir.” Lash’s voice was strained, though I didn’t think the controls had gotten any harder to use.

  “Propellers are still on.” Ghaz released her control stick with a calm ease I wish I had. “Vector?”

  “Up.” Tendons rose on Lash’s neck. “Up, up.”

  “Can we take this, sir?” Jamilah asked, her hands clasped in front of her.

  “That wave? No.” I paid attention to the vibrations riding up my legs from my feet for any telltale signals the wings weren’t going to hold. The storm had increased in intensity while we’d been in Ino City.

  “This storm?” Her eyes pinched in worry.

  An emotion I shared. “Not for long.”

  The wave grew gradually closer like a tremendous giant intent on devouring us. Metre by metre, we climbed, gaining air, gaining clearance. When the wave descended, it barely clipped our tail.

  “Assess for damage.” I didn’t even know who I was talking to at that point.

  The communications officer raised his voice above the noise in the dome. “We’re clear, sir. No obvious damage.”

  Jamilah raised an eyebrow. “We got damned lucky, sir.”

  I was most aware.

  The storm battered us as we gained altitude. The air currents changed like the crack of a whip.

  Lash growled in frustration. “I don’t know how much longer our wings can take this.”

  But if we were having issues with a more aerodynamic design, I knew Tokarz couldn’t be doing much better.

  “Do we need our wings right now?”

  “If we want to maneuver in a battle?” Lash pulled his lips back along his teeth, his mouth open for a silent yell. “Yeah, sir. We’re going to dirt-humping need them.”

  I understood his need for cursing.

  Lava laced the night, coming from the rear on the starboard side.

  Lash pulled hard on the wheel bringing us up and away from it, though it fell short by about twenty metres anyway. “Where is he?” He twisted to see our attacker through the panes of glass. “I can’t see him in this rain!”

  The clouds opened up and rain dumped on us, removing our visibility to nothing. I couldn’t make out the ocean waves crashing below us, or the storm clouds above us. Occasional flashes of lightning were merely flash-clouds of light.

  “Switch to radar.” Jamilah only grew calmer, cooler under the attack.

  Exactly what a good commander needed.

  I glanced at the screen, but didn’t see much. I searched the dark sky. Lightning pierced the darkness, capturing a new rain of lava. It filled the air with more electric current than I’d ever seen.

  A boom crashed into the glass dome. The Layal shivered. Electricity buzzed along the copper wires woven through her skin.

  Lash’s eyes widened. “What the—”

  I scanned the skies as the lava disappeared, trying to find the source.

  The rain slackened.

  Tokarz’s blue-sailed fleet studded the storm-filled sky. Cloud lightning flitted about, refusing to enter into the fray as if it had scared itself by interconnecting with Tokarz’s lava. That was one blessing I wasn’t going to ignore. If we entered the storm, the Layal would be fine. For the most part.

  How would Tokarz fare?

  His ships reminded me of the games. Images of the ships falling from the sky tore through my mind in a fleeting second, followed swiftly by the images of my own fleet exploding all around me.

  Rage lifted the Marks from my body. They hissed as they found my clothing and hesitated.

  “Sir?” Jamilah’s hands stilled. “Now’s not the time for that, unless you have a conduit for it?”

  I didn’t.

  “We’ll work on that, too, but for now, would you mind putting those away?”

  I gritted my teeth and swallowed hard, fighting to keep the rage at bay.

  The Marks slithered back into place along my skin.

  Planes spilled out of the storm above us, racing through the air, their engine roars slipping through the glass only when they were close. They attacked the Tokarz vessels, their shots blazing orange in the night.

  The other ships of Tokarz’s fleet shot a mixture of Family and Hand weapons. Lightning shot from their cannons, followed by orange flashes similar to what Rose’s planes used—bullets. The lightning coalesced around each plane it touched, rippling along the skin, but not providing any subsequent damage.

  “Lash.”

  He nodded at my command and shifted the yoke.

  “Bring me closer to the lead ship.”

  Airships, for the most part, all looked the same. Hull, masts, sails. But the lead ship always had a different figurehead. Tokarz was different. His fleet was made up of a ragtag group of airships that had no home. Pirates. Each figurehead was different.

  But I knew Tokarz’s ship. The lady below his head rails was naked except for her hair, her body morphing in to the keel. He’d painted her green, her hair bright red. In the low light, it was hard to make out color, but I could see it. Well, more, I could remember it.

  Lash pulled the Layal up and behind Tokarz’s ship.

  “This is as close as I want to get to his lava cannon.”

  Lash flattened his lips.

  “Weapons systems,” Jamilah commanded.

  Lightning shot from the front of the Layal and landed squarely on the Tokarz stern. Men and women scrambled to get out of the way. Some succeeded. Others did not.

  The Tokarz fleet stopped firing. Their vessels hung in the air like rag dolls as th
ey altered course away from us.

  “Could it be that easy?” Jamilah asked.

  “No.” Tokarz didn’t play by the rules of honor like the rest of us. He followed his own. I had no doubt he’d come at me again, but this time with cheats. However, Tokarz had Ino and Shankara backing him.

  How many people was I willing to sacrifice for vengeance? That’s the question I had to ask. With Ino, Shankara, Han, and LeBlanc against me, how many innocent people was I willing to kill?

  Tokarz wasn’t the one I was really after anyway. I wanted Ino Nami. Tokarz was merely the braggart, the puppet.

  More lightning found his ship. His main mast cracked, crashing down on his ship. The rail splintered. People tumbled through the air into the waiting, devouring waves below them.

  With one mast down, Tokarz would be lucky to survive this storm. Was my vengeance satisfied?

  No.

  It would be when I killed Ino Nami.

  “Let’s take her home.”

  Lash glanced at Ghaz, but swung the Layal around and headed north.

  “Are you sure, Synn?” Jamilah asked. “We have him right where we want him.”

  I wasn’t. I wanted to obliterate him the way he’d destroyed my Family.

  But something stopped me.

  “You could end this right now, my El’Asim. You could destroy him.”

  “How would that make me a better person?” I asked quietly. “No. I need to find a way to bring this to him. His tribe doesn’t deserve to pay his price. Nor does mine.”

  Jamilah flicked her eyebrows and crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Also, I need to make sure my sister is all right.”

  Jamilah bowed her head. “Bring in the birds. We’re going home.”

  The decision resounded in my chest. It might be the wrong one, but it felt right.

  WITH OUR COURSE SET, AND our trajectory well hidden from any surveillance we knew of, I felt it safe to locate my sister.

  My heart raced and my Mark threatened to rise at the thought of her being hurt. What had Mother done to her? How long had she been incarcerated? Would Mother torture her for some strange reason? I’d seen a side of our mother I never thought possible. Everything I assumed, everything I had felt, I had to challenge. I had to.