Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3)

by S. M. Blooding

  It was time Synn proved his worth. Or released her from the bonds of his precious league.

  I FOUND MYSELF OUTSIDE AIYANNA’S bedroom door. I closed my eyes with a sigh and opened them again. How many evenings had I spent in her room? How often had I sought her comfort?

  “Synn,” she called from down the hall. Aiyanna walked toward me, her dark, wavy hair cascading down her back. She smiled and maneuvered around me, pushing the thin, metal door open. “Come in.”

  Returning her smile, I closed the door behind me. “Did you walk Enhnapi at all?”

  “Definitely.” She threw a pink pillow on the floor and sank onto it. “Every time we come into port.”

  “You’re not much of an airman.” I ducked my head, sitting on a red pillow opposite her. It was our own joke. She didn’t like being cooped up on the ship for long periods of time, and I gave her a hard time about it. As far as jokes went, it was stupid, but it was the thing we shared.

  “You’re worrying again.” Aiyanna’s soft voice penetrated my thoughts.

  I shot her a ghost of a smile. “What would I have to worry about?”

  She tipped her head to the side, her expression frank and accepting at the same time.

  With her, I could be honest. She’d give me her honest opinion. We’d have an honest discussion, and at the end, I’d have a better plan. “I don’t know what I’m doing here.”

  “That makes two of us.”

  I released a dry snort to acknowledge her admission. “I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

  She dropped her gaze to the floor, her expression carefully blank.

  Of all the people who had stood by me through my grief and anger, she’d survived the longest. Was my surprise due to the fact she wasn’t a tribesman and so I thought of her as weak? Or was it the fact that she was a priestess of a religious order I didn’t understand?

  We had time. We had a moment to breathe, to ask questions we never seemed to have time for. Before I lost the courage or someone interrupted us for an emergency, I blurted, “What is Tarot to you?”

  Her smile widened as she straightened her back, then slumped slightly forward again. “Of all the things you want to discuss, you want to ask me about my religion?”

  I folded my leg and perched my elbow on my knee. “Yes.”

  “Okay.” She got up and walked toward the round table in the far corner, sinking onto the dark red pillows edged in black. “I don’t even know where to start.”

  I joined her. Before I sat, I pulled the string that raised the slotted, sea flax curtains. There was nothing to see. The docks were quiet. The letharan veil was down and we were under the lake, waiting out the storm. I sat on a pillow and leaned against the frame of the small window. “Why don’t you tell me how you started with Tarot?”

  “I was born to it.” She took in a deep breath and fingered the bowl of fruit in the center of the table. “You really want to discuss this?”

  I nodded.

  “Fine. My mother had fled her Family to have me. The priestesses took her in, fed her, clothed her, then helped with her with the birthing, and let her go.”

  “Do you know who she is?”

  She nodded, her gaze dropping. “Ino Hazar.”

  I narrowed my eyes and shook my head.

  “She’s a major advisor for the Ino.”

  “Oh.” That was unexpected.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Yes.”

  “You don’t look Ino.”

  “I know. Have you met Ino Hazar? She is not Ino. She married in from another family.”

  “Oh.” Would she be safe from the blood purge? “Do you think she would have evacuated with everyone else?”

  “Sought refuge?” Aiyanna shook her head. “Hazar is pure blood. She’s simply Umira instead of Ino. Nami would not execute her.”

  That sounded good, but I wondered how much love my mother had for the Umira tribe. She hadn’t been fond of Haji.

  “My father is a mystery, though, based on my Mark, I would have to guess he is Bahrain, perhaps?”

  “What is your Mark?” In all these months together, there was still so much I didn’t know about her. She was still so much of a mystery.

  She ducked her head, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment. “We don’t know what to call it.”

  A breath escaped my smiling lips, and for the first time in months, my chest felt light as if for one small moment, I’d escaped the suffocating responsibilities laid on me. “Show me?”

  Her expression froze in a half-smile as she watched me. She tugged off her dark blue vest. When her fingers touched the upper lacings of her blouse, something stirred inside me.

  My hand shot out, settling over hers.

  Her gaze met mine, her pupils large.

  I didn’t know what I wanted to tell her. Stop. Keep going. Come over here. In that moment, the only thing I truly wanted was to taste her flesh, to touch her skin, to watch as it was unveiled before me.

  She flicked my hand away, one eyebrow raised.

  I swallowed hard and sat back, painfully aware of my body’s reaction. Blinking, I made sure the table hid it from her.

  This dance, whatever it was that we were doing, was painful. One day, it was easy to be close to her. She reacted to me and I to her. Then, other times, I’d advance and she’d put up walls. Like now. I was confused and frustrated.

  But I had to think about it. If I didn’t know what I was doing half the time, maybe she didn’t either.

  Her cheeks brightened as she shook her shoulders, her blouse falling down them slightly.

  Heat crept up my neck as my hands fought to remain still.

  She closed her eyes and her previously unmarred, brown skin took on a blue-green glow. Swirls and lines unfurled, blossoming from her neck and swooped downward.

  A firestorm of emotions rose from within me; desire, affection, passion. I burned with them. My Marks rose from me, but instead of burning through my clothes, they slithered out from underneath them, escaping at the neck, the sleeve.

  And they were blue.

  A cool, controlled heat filled the air as her Mark rose from her skin in awakening morning glories. Her Mark entangled with mine.

  Ease, unlike anything I’d felt before, filled me. Serenity beckoned.

  “This is my Mark.”

  A breath I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding escaped from me. “It’s beautiful.”

  “I don’t show it to many,” she said softly as our Marks danced together. “There are many who do not believe in the contamination of our Marks, of our lines. They would call my Mark an abomination.”

  “What would they call mine?”

  “If they were powerful enough to say anything untoward to you?”

  I nodded once.

  “The world is much more gruesome than many like to admit. My mother took a great risk carrying me and then allowing me to live. Many children born of mixed couplings are killed, especially those born from Ino.”

  I recalled Nix’s story. She’d been born to the Shankara, but as soon as her Mark showed itself as fire, she’d been outcast in the dead of winter, stranded on the ice shelves of the great Northern Ocean.

  “There are, of course, tribes who do not believe in the purification process. The Vash, the El’Asim, the Umira.” One wisp of her Mark entangled with mine.

  Chills cascaded down my spine, sending my scalp to tingle. “I’ve heard stories, but I thought that’s all it was. Stories.”

  “You’re a very lucky man, Synn. Your father protected you well from the bigotry. Tarot is a lot more than an idea or a belief system. To many, Tarot is a place of refuge, a place where any and all are accepted and welcome.”

  The old anger and grief seeped down my Marks. Smoke assaulted my nostrils. “At the expense of how many?”

  Her Marks turned to strings of ice.

  My lava didn’t harden like lava did when it cooled, but remained living and supple as my emotions settled.

  “T
hat was Nix, Synn, not Tarot.”

  My Mark withdrew slightly.

  Hers curled around mine like a lover’s embrace and kept it from retreating. “Tarot is not a god. He is not a being or a creature. Tarot is energy, a knowing, a great spirit of intuition. The priestesses gave me a home, accepted me for whoever and whatever I turned out to be. They shaped and guided me to heal, to help any who needed it without regard to station.”

  I tipped my head to the side and regarded her, acknowledging the warmth and comfort I felt just by being in her presence. “Why couldn’t more of them be like you?”

  “They are, Synn.”

  “The queens?”

  She lifted a shoulder. “They are not when we need them not to be. They are when we do.”

  “What does that even mean? Why would ‘Tarot’ need Nix?”

  Aiyanna sighed, her Marks releasing their cool hold of me. “Tarot’s true power does not lie in bullets or weapons of destruction. His power is not reflected in death, though it can be. Tarot’s true power rests in the hearts of the people.”

  “So you’re going to manipulate people’s emotions?” I knew she had the power to quell mine. She’d been doing so for months, keeping the people around me safe. “Are you also going to alter their thoughts?”

  “Oh, Synn.” She let out a frustrated sigh and called her Mark back. “You’re going to, and all the people who follow you. You will pave the path that will change this world. Not because you’ve been manipulated, or because you feel someone or something is working through you. You will do so because you feel it is right, because you have the courage to do so.”

  I swallowed, feeling a strange emptiness with her Mark gone.

  The blue tendrils sank back into her skin and disappeared as if they’d never been there. “That’s how Tarot works. Through Tarot’s faith in you, not the other way around.”

  “That…” I let that thought trail off as I brought my own Mark back to my body, puzzling over the intact state of my clothes as I did so. “That is the strangest religion I’ve ever heard of. I thought the whole point of religion was to take power through faith. How do you remain in power if you do not take it?”

  “We shouldn’t have any. Now that Nix is gone, the High Priestess is hopeful we can go back to the way we once were.”

  “Powerless.”

  She pressed a finger into the inner corner of her eye, then shook her head and rearranged her blouse, retying it. “Am I powerless?”

  No. I’d thought she was useless once, and would likely get herself killed. But now? “No.”

  “Neither is the rest of Tarot. We need nothing from others other than what we cannot provide for ourselves. We offer. That is all. We ask for nothing in return.”

  “You took our—”

  “Nix took.”

  “And Nix’s punishment, keeping her alive—”

  “Making her serve and provide for those she took from?”

  “That is a fair and just punishment?”

  Aiyanna raised her eyebrows. “Your Neira thought so.”

  She wasn’t mine. Why did these women keep trying to force other women onto me? Nami was always calling Nix “your Nix.” Neira had called Aiyanna “your priestess.” What was it with these women? “Neira didn’t lose her Family to Nix.”

  “And neither did you. You lost your Family to your mother whose allegiances are still largely unknown. Your friends, Haji and Keeley, lost their Families to Nix.”

  I scratched at the stubble growing on my upper lip.

  “Are we going to talk about why you saved Tokarz?”

  I flinched. “It wasn’t the right time.”

  “You had him dead to rights, Synn.”

  Images shot through my mind like lightning from a cannon. Ships falling from the sky. The screams of my people reaching my ears as they fell to their deaths.

  Cool fingers touched my temple. Dark brown eyes captured my gaze, her face soft with understanding. “That. Synn, you have to deal with that. Eventually, you are going to have to handle Tokarz, and it is quite likely he will continue to hide behind his tribe, especially now that he has seen how effective it is.”

  “I will not kill innocents to get to him.” I couldn’t. There had to be another way.

  “You may not have a choice. This is the world we live in.”

  I rose to my knees, grabbing her wrist. “That was the world we lived in. There is always a choice.”

  A slight smile flattened her lips. “And that, my dear, lovely Synn, is how Tarot works. He believes in you.” She cupped my cheek. “I believe in you.”

  Those four little words filled me with such comfort.

  Her lips touched lightly on my eyelids. “Now then, shape the world you want to live in.”

  I LEFT AIYANNA’S ROOM FEELING more restless than I had when I’d entered. I needed to expel the wild energy, but doing what?

  Find Neira.

  When we’re first arrived, Neira had been away on a hunt or gathering food or something. Enough time had passed, however, that she should have made it back.

  Ino City had a great command center and a council center. Mother thrived on ceremony and offerings of respect. I hadn’t been to the beating heart of any other letharan city. When she’d given this lethara to me, it had been set up much the same way as hers.

  Neira had changed all that. She had kept the command center, where the all the consoles and equipment resided to keep track of things, but she didn’t hide it, at least not in the same way. The sleeping quarters resided at the top of the city near the belly of the jellyfish. The command center was a floor above the hospital.

  I took the elevator platform from the docks and waited as the open space of the command floor greeted me. Triads of sticks were set together with odd bits housed inside. I passed by one pyramid of sticks, peering at the treasures inside. A few pine cones, a couple of rocks, sticks, leaves, and a single candle.

  I didn’t know what the point of these were, if they were ceremonial offerings, or symbols of power. The next one had four large rocks and a bouquet of dried flowers surrounding the single candle.

  “Gathering circles.”

  I turned to the woman who’d spoken. She had a bow and quiver slung across her back, her pale hair loose, her dark eyes sharp. “Skah, right?”

  She nodded and stepped toward me, her hands clasped behind her back. “Each family group has their own circle. The items within each circle represents each person.”

  That seemed oddly closed-off for a people so independent and seemingly open-minded to others’ ways and cultures. Though, maybe not. They hid from the world.

  She smiled with a hmm. “You speak loudly with your face, Admiral El’Asim.”

  The title still sounded foreign to me. I didn’t know where Neira had gotten it from, though it sounded Handish. The Hands of Tarot and the Vash weren’t connected, at least not that I could see, so it seemed odd. “I need to see Neira.”

  “That is good. She sent me to collect you.” Skah spun and walked in the direction she’d come.

  “Is something wrong?” Part of me hoped so. Part of me wished for a battle to fight, someone to yell at, somewhere to fly to. The other part of me, the part that had already lost too much, hoped that she merely wished to speak to me about food rations.

  We came to a leather-covered hut. Skah pulled the flap back for me. “Be brave, young one.” She sent me a tight smile.

  I rolled my eyes and ducked under the flap.

  Neira sat on the floor, surrounded by papers and maps. She looked up and frowned, before returning her attention to the information before her. “Synn.”

  “Neira.”

  She gestured to the floor in front of her.

  I sat on a long-haired pelt and held my silence until she was done.

  With a long sigh, she set down the piece of rough paper she’d been reading and set it on the floor in front of her. “There are so many reports, Synn. The Han is relocating. The Ino are still in hiding. Lom
bardi is attacking landmasses, killing any who refuse to leave.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Who is Lombardi?”

  “He’s the leader of a smaller land tribe. He’s never had power or influence before. He wants Kiwidinok, but we’ve always been able to drive him back before. I worry now, though. He obliterated Hihong Island. They were a strong warrior tribe on a tiny island. And with no means to leave the island, they were decimated.”

  I frowned.

  “That’s only one of the problems I face today. The Han is seeking to attack us again. He is currently attacking a chain of islands on our southern coast.”

  Where was she going with this?

  “And now, I have a hundred Ino refugees dumped on me.”

  “That Aiyanna and Carilyn are vetting.”

  Neira shook her head. “That my people are cleansing.”

  “Cleansing?”

  She gave me a dry look. “Why are there refugees of a tribe who signed our treaty?”

  I hadn’t even realized this was one of the conversations I didn’t want to have. “Ino Nami imprisoned Oki and reclaimed control of Ino City. She has aligned herself with Shankara and the LeBlanc’s. I believe they are allying to fight our League of Cities.”

  “That’s just excellent news, Synn,” she said in a tone that indicated she meant the exact opposite. “So, not only do I have to defend myself against Lombardi and the Han, I now have to contend with the reunited Great Families.”

  I took in a short breath and held it, my mouth forming words I didn’t want to utter.

  She lowered her chin and leveled a hard look at me. “What?”

  “Ino has teamed with the Han as well. I don’t know about Lombardi.”

  She grimaced. “Have I thanked you yet for saddling me with the leadership of your league?”

  I hadn’t thought she might not want the leadership position.

  She pulled her eyebrows up and quirked her lips. “No. I didn’t want it, actually. I control the largest, richest island we know of. Protecting it takes all of my attention. Now, you say the Great Families wish to war with us? Why should I stand behind this treaty of yours? The Ino has broken it already. Perhaps I should let it go.”

  “And what about all the other tribes? They gave their faith to us.”