Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3)

by S. M. Blooding

  Too many questions, and with no answers, a waste of energy.

  I sealed the control dome from the starboard side door, then took the maze of open catwalks through the nearly deserted galleys, to the cargo area.

  Easily a hundred people stood or sat, keeping their loved ones close. They muttered to one another. I kept watch for anything that looked odd, behavior, body language. Not that I was a great judge of either, but I wanted Ino Nami’s spy found. Now.

  Taking on the refugees of Ino City had been a risk.

  Dirt. Taking on any refugees, any stranger was a risk. I could close my heart, my mind, my soul, in order to keep my remaining tribe safe. Or…I could be watchful and wary. I knew I had to be more calculating. I had to be more careful.

  I just couldn’t leave people to die or worse if I could help. I had the ability. What would I do with all this power? All these resources? Live like a monarch in the sky? Untouchable? Unreachable? It didn’t make sense.

  I simply had to ensure that all those I truly cared about were under my protection.

  Protection. Not incarceration.

  I entered the cargo area and meandered through the crowds, asking if anyone had seen my sister. Most had not. I couldn’t blame them. They’d just been “rescued” and then shoved in a cargo hold, then fired upon by the enemy. To them, unable to see anything, it had to be pretty scary. I tried to reassure a few of them, but I wasn’t very good at it. So, I stopped and returned to searching for my sister.

  Hitoshi and Kenta had created a niche for her toward the rear of the ship. Chie had sent out a whispered message repeated throughout the group of refugees, letting me know where they were.

  Chie’s expression was tight with worry. She clasped the turquoise material of her kimono in her white-knuckled hands. Kenta was stooped over a prone form. Hitoshi stood guard, his expression harshly blank in the low light. He nodded to me once as I approached.

  I nodded back then touched Chie’s shoulder. “How is she?”

  Chie twisted on the balls of her feet in her crouched position and set a hand on the dark blue silk beside her.

  I stepped over a pair of black sandaled, white-socked feet. Oki’s round face was pale, her eyes closed. Worry ran through me as my stomach twisted. “How long has she been like this?”

  Kenta met my gaze with his nearly black, almond-shaped eyes, his cheekbones sharp with the intensity of his expression. “We were escaping, and everything seemed fine. But as we ascended the stairs out of the holding area, she collapsed. I have been unable to revive her.”

  I held the back of my fingers up to her nose. Breath. Bare, but there. “Do you think this is natural?”

  He shook his head.

  “Could this be a sedative?”

  “For what purpose?”

  He had a point. “Poison.”

  He lifted one shoulder. “Ino Nami intended to execute Oki anyway. If she knew of your arrival, it would make sense she would make sure she succeeded either way.”

  I pressed my knuckle to my eye. “How would she have known?”

  Kenta closed his eyes for a long moment, then opened them again, staring down at Oki. “It has stopped surprising me the things she knows, sometimes before anyone else.”

  “It could have been anything,” Chie whispered. “We spread the rumor of your arrival. Someone could have alerted her.”

  “In time to poison her daughter?” I asked incredulously.

  “In time to have her poisoned?” A staggered sob escaped Chie before she regained control of her voice, if not her face. “That woman is a monster.”

  Poison. I rubbed my forehead, my mind scrambling for an answer. Keeley was at Enhnapi, setting up what she and Doctor Carson Derby called a hospital. She had collected all the healers for training. I had agreed we should be fine. We’d merely been out on a training exercise.

  I couldn’t help with poison. I didn’t know what to do. “Do we have any idea what she was given? A guess?”

  My brother-in-law shook his head, taking his hard gaze and raking it over my sister. “We do not.”

  “Have we tried emptying her stomach?”

  Kenta shook his head, his expression deep with despair and resignation.

  “Why not?”

  “I did not see any food dishes.”

  “So? Not all poisons react the same.”

  Chie reached over Oki’s body and set her freezing fingers on my arm. “This was too sudden. It had to be something else.”

  I searched my sister’s face, trying to recall all the symptoms of poisoning I knew of, but there just wasn’t a lot of information in my head. I knew nothing of poisons. We didn’t use them. I hadn’t run into them. Her lips were a pale pink. Her face was pale, her breathing shallow. Her fingers were chilled, but not discolored.

  “We have to wait.” Chie took her hand back. “We have to wait.”

  I cupped my hands and pressed them to my face. I couldn’t lose another sister. I couldn’t.

  “She knew,” Chie whispered. “Ino Nami knew.”

  But how? Was it impossible? No. Unlikely? Yes. We’d played it too close, kept too many things quiet. We’d worked in secret. How could Mother have known?

  Unless she hadn’t and it had been a gamble.

  Would she really offer two baits for one battle? What had she wanted so badly?

  What had she wanted so badly?

  I sat up, dropping my hand to my lap. What had she gained?

  She’d seen my ship, or at least her people had.

  She’d possibly secreted a spy on board. A spy who happened to be in this room.

  But if I’d only attacked Tokarz, what would she have won then? Seen my ship in battle? Possibly, she could have seen my entire armada.

  No. She’d offered two baits for this trap.

  Two baits.

  I retraced my steps from the moment I’d stepped foot on Ino City to the moment I left. I’d interacted with the woman at the elevator platform, the woman who’d offered me drink, my mother, and Hitoshi. What in all that had warranted two baits?

  What in all that would she have gained had I fought Tokarz?

  The voice.

  The voice?

  It didn’t make sense. Could that have been what she’d won by offering Oki as bait?

  Who was that voice?

  I couldn’t deduce it, couldn’t piece it together. It might help if I understood Mother’s reasons. Why did she want war so badly? Why was it so important to her to…

  Remain the superior power?

  Perhaps it really was just that simple. Perhaps the point of offering Oki up as bait was so my mother could face off with me, she could remind me who was the more superior power.

  But then, how had she talked Shankara, the Han, and LeBlanc into joining her? No. It wasn’t that simple. It never was with my mother. I had to stop being stupid. Had to start thinking.

  “Chie, we’re on way to Keeley. If she doesn’t know how to help Oki, then I’m sure Doctor Carson will.”

  She looked up at me, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “Are they healers?”

  “Well, Keeley is.” When she left—ran, actually—she’d found her calling in the Healer’s Hall. She’d discovered Carson Derby. He called himself a doctor, not a healer. He claimed his approach was more science based and less magical. Whatever that meant, but the two of them together had created something amazing, something I’d never seen done before.

  They created a hospital.

  “Where are we going?” Chie asked.

  I glanced at her, then returned my attention to Oki’s face. “Enhnapi.”

  Hitoshi glanced at Chie, then at me before returning his scrutiny to our surroundings. “I haven’t heard of this place.”

  “It used to be Asim City.”

  Kenta grunted, his gaze never leaving my sister.

  Small talk seemed so senseless. I needed to help Oki. But how? Make Lash fly the Layal faster? No. With this storm, these winds, he needed to be careful
. Yes, being within the storm was the safer route, but danger still remained.

  Kenta’s knuckles were white, his lips thin, his eyes tight.

  Chie appeared as though she’d dissolve into tears at a moment’s notice.

  Hitoshi’s grip flexed on the handle of his katana as though he’d love to cut someone to shreds at that moment.

  Perhaps small talk was exactly what we needed, a distraction.

  “Neira disappeared after the games,” I said quietly.

  “You did, too.” Kenta’s voice was even, lacking any tone of accusation.

  “Yes. I retreated to Asim City to redesign and rebuild my armada.” Asim City was a letharan, a young one, that my mother had granted to me during my escape from the Hands of Tarot. It had been quite instrumental to the fall of Sky City.

  Hitoshi released a dry chuckle. “Armada?”

  I nodded. “It is…a great deal larger than a fleet. You’ll see when get to Enhnapi.”

  Kenta shook his head, his jaw ticking. “It is a strange sounding name.”

  “Neira’s people have a strange language, strange customs.” I took in a deep breath, feeling stupid and useless. “About two months ago, I woke up. Or rather, Aiyanna woke me up rarely forcefully.”

  “The priestess?” Chie asked, taking her gaze off my sister. Her eyelids regained some of their normal coloring, the red receding with the tears.

  “Yes.”

  “She stayed with you, then.”

  “She did, and I thank the stars she did. Anyway, she reminded me that I wasn’t the only one rocked by the destruction of my Family. The world had been as well. The smaller tribes had just come out of hiding, had agreed to stand up and fight against tyranny, had proven their rights and will to do so. They were amazing, Chie, these people who before the games had no voice.”

  She raised her chin, her lips pursing as a frown furrowed her brow.

  “And then all the leaders of the League they’d sworn their allegiance to disappeared.”

  Chie winced. “Yes. We had wondered if you’d noticed.”

  “Not right away. I…didn’t handle my grief as a leader should have.”

  Kenta moved his gaze to me, relaxing his hand on Oki’s arm. “Do not be too hard on yourself, Synn. You are a new leader, a new man, still untested in many regards. You did the best you could.” He looked around what little of the ship he could see. “And it appears you did well.”

  Chie took in a deep breath and looked around as well. “You did this on your own?”

  “No. People came from everywhere to join me, to help me. I terrified most of them. My rage, my grief—” I licked my lips and ducked my head. “My Mark. I was a bit out of control for a long while.”

  “So building your…armada—” Kenta spared me a ghost of a smile. “—was a worthwhile distraction.”

  “Yes, but the world didn’t need both of its leaders in hiding. I sought Neira, discovered her, and gave her Asim City.”

  “She, obviously, gave it a new name.”

  “It seemed fitting. It did not need my brand on it anymore.”

  Silence gathered in our circle for a moment.

  Chie shook herself. “Was Neira easy to find? We’ve heard nothing of her tribe. We don’t even truly know where she calls home.”

  “Kiwidinok.”

  Surprise exploded on Kenta’s face.

  Kiwidinok was the largest landmass of our known world. It was also untamable, or at least, that’s what many of the land tribes said. After having learned more about Neira’s people, I understood why other land tribes would say so. Neira was formidable.

  Hitoshi blinked, then frowned, regained his position, and shook his head.

  “The wild lands?” Kenta leveled a hard look at me. “And she rules it? Well, then, apparently, you chose your league’s leader well.”

  Agreed. “It took me a lot longer to find her than I’d hoped. When she doesn’t want to be found, it’s nearly impossible. And that land is rich.”

  Kenta scrubbed his face. He released a breath and popped his neck. “It sounds like a place the Han would be interested in taking. Food and textiles for trade? All that land?”

  “And he is. Him and a lot of other people. She turns them all back. They’re the most versatile tribe I’ve ever seen. They’re competent on the water, under it, on the land, on a lethara. They’re not even half bad on an airship.”

  Chie offered a brief smile.

  The mood was lifting, so I was doing something right. It seemed silly and stupid to be making small talk. Huh. What a difference a few months could make. Last spring, I’d been a boy and small talk was the one thing I’d excelled at. Hmm. “We’re still learning their language. It’s gruff and delicate at the same time. And they sign, talk with their hands. It’s amazing. They don’t have the same ceremonies of respect we do. They’re more …I don’t know, realistic about people, maybe?”

  Kenta hmm’d softly to himself. “Well, I think your sister would be very proud of you, Synn. She worried about you, but hoped you’d be a good leader.”

  “I am not.” I studied Oki’s face, fighting the sorrow before it could fully fester. “Not yet.”

  “You will be.”

  “How long until we get there?” Hitoshi asked, his voice full of gravel.

  “An hour.” I gripped my sister’s hand. I hoped she’d make it.

  She had to.

  THE LETHARAN CITY OF ENHNAPI was nestled deep in the wilds of Kiwidinok. Personally, I hadn’t thought it possible to bring a lethara so far inland. We weren’t at the heart of the wild woodland, but we were close. Large rivers flowed from Lake Chatan. Neira knew their names, how they flowed in each season, and all the dangers they could provide. She also knew all the ways the lake could protect her letharan city. It was deep; deep enough for him to submerge for many long years yet.

  I had moved Oki to the galley. A wild wind ripped through the bay. This wasn’t the same storm we’d fought under hours ago. This was the season of storms. The great, green trees bowed under the force of the winds and the slicing rain. A flock of brightly colored birds lost cover for a brief moment and then were again hidden as the wind let up.

  I yawned to pop my ears as we lost altitude, and searched for signs that we were getting close. Trees. How could Neira find anything in this cursed place? Every square centimetre of it looked the same.

  Hitoshi pulled on his ear, glancing furtively in my direction.

  I yawned again, not for my ears, but to show him how to clear his own. On a lethara, the pressure never changed, or if it did, it was so slow and subtle, few noticed. Airships were different. Yes. I could have kept the pressure regulated by keeping the galley doors closed. However, I wanted the ability to head out as soon as the Enhnapi docks were in sight.

  Chie clasped Oki’s hand, her gaze dark and distant.

  Kenta wasn’t much better. His eyes were rock hard with resolution. He didn’t hold Oki, but he was close, his hand in constant contact with her body.

  We sank suddenly, and then rose minutely. My gut groaned. Air pockets. They weren’t uncommon, but this close to the ground they could be dangerous, and they made me uncomfortable. Microbursts could slam a vessel several metres down without control.

  We didn’t have several metres.

  The wide mouth of a river showed itself in the pale storm light. I couldn’t tell which of our two suns was trying to pierce the heavy storm clouds. We’d traveled within them to cover our tracks. If we’d ridden above the storm, Mother—Ino Nami—could have sent vessels to track us.

  We’d never have been able to do that in the Samma’s. As much as I wanted to disrespect that woman, she had prepared us for the war she wanted.

  I took one wide step to the doors and gripped the edge of the nearest one. They couldn’t take my weight for long. I hadn’t designed them to support it, but I needed to see and I didn’t want to be sucked out of the ship. The wide river connected to a large lake a hundred metres upstream. From this alti
tude, I could see the full leaf-shaped perimeter, but not the details.

  Trees. Just a lot of trees.

  The lake was peppered with sand islands. They couldn’t support life. They were nothing more than sandbars.

  But within the bay of sandbars near the center of Lake Chatan, Neira’s lethara stood tall, rising from the protective waters of the lake as far as he could. His hood waved with the wind, his tendrils keeping him in place.

  We were home.

  Home. Such a strange word to use on such a strange place. Who would ever have thought that a lethara would be more of a home to an airman than his ship?

  As we drew closer, the lethara reached out his jellyfish tentacles and helped draw us in, using the hooks that had been specifically designed for him. The copper we used to harness the lightning was toxic to him, something we’d learned early on quite by accident. So his safe areas were devoid of copper and of the pleron metal. Only woods and flax for our lethara.

  The Basilah broke from the storm just over us. My stomach twisted with worry. Ryo hadn’t been up and about for long yet. His health was still fragile. I didn’t want to set him back and I didn’t know what would happen, how he would react, if we couldn’t wake Oki. They’d grown up together. They were a lot closer than either of them were to me.

  Oki hadn’t stirred the entire trip.

  As soon as the Layal touched down on the deserted docks specifically designed for the Khayals, I touched Kenta’s shoulder and gestured for him to bring Oki and follow me.

  I led the way down the docks to the first elevator platform. Ours were not enclosed like Ino City. Our lethara evolved daily as he became used to new things. Our city morphed regularly, growing, shifting, changing. Wind blasted us as Chie, Hitoshi, Kenta, Oki and I crowded onto the square piece of dried flax that served as the floor. I grabbed the rope and tugged four times, one for each level I wanted to go up.

  The platform rose with a mechanical groan from the pulleys eight stories above us.

  Enhnapi wasn’t the sprawling, overwhelming metropolis of Ino City and I doubted we’d ever be that. Each level was minimal, taking up only as much space as was absolutely required. The floor directly above the docks wasn’t a complete floor due to some of the experiments we’d had on the docks. It had been safer that way.