by Devin Hanson
“Oh, do not be like that, dear Avandakossi. After all, I have so much to repay you for.”
The light was blocked again, this time by a dragon nearly twice the size of Ava. It was clearly a male, his wingspan covering the full thirty yards of the aerie. Heavy armor plates ran down his neck and around his face that elongated into bristling spines further down his body. The ground shook as he stepped forward and coughed a booming challenge, making Andrew slap hands to his ears.
“You remember Durokosso, Avandakossi. He and I have become quite friendly over the years. He is not too bright, unfortunately, but somehow he came to the conclusion that you had wounded him in the past. It was his idea, if you can call it that, to meet you here. Is that not sweet?”
Benettikossi’s voice trembled with glee and seethed with an undercurrent of hate. Andrew had heard that kind of mixed emotion before, but he couldn’t put his finger on when. Ava took a step back, glanced down at Andrew and threw her wings wide, a rumbling snarl rolling from deep in her chest.
Andrew’s heart thundered in his ears, mingling with the ringing echo of Durokosso’s returned roar. Tiny gods, was Ava really going to fight that monster? There was no way she could win. He couldn’t let her do that, not to protect him.
He reached out, forming his thoughts carefully and reinforcing his words with emotions. A whispered Saying amplified his voice, and he shouted: “Enough!” The walls of the aerie echoed back his shout and it reverberated down the tunnel, coming back seconds later, repeating until it died away.
Durokosso shrank back, tucked his wings down and roared, but it wasn’t as loud as his earlier challenge had been. Benettikossi hissed and showed an impressive array of teeth, the frills around her neck snapping open in her own defiant display.
“You have a kossirith!” Benettikossi snarled. “You have fallen into the old ways!”
“I am Avandir!” Andrew shouted, “Leave this place at once!”
The great bulk of the kosso twisted around and dropped from the ledge, soaring up into view a few seconds later, beating his wings to gain altitude and heading north, further into the wastes. Benettikossi shrieked, beating her wings and sending up a whirling haze of disturbed litter.
For a moment, Andrew thought the dragon was going to charge Ava, but after a final display, she too turned and leapt from the edge. After a moment, her cry of rage came drifting back to the aerie.
Slowly, Ava relaxed, her scales smoothing down, her wings tucking back into their usual positions.
“So,” Andrew asked, after a few minutes had passed and the aerie remained quiet, “friends of yours?”
Ava swiveled her head around and examined Andrew before huffing out a gust of hot air that blew leaves in a swirling storm. “Benettikossi is no friend.”
“No kidding. What is her story, anyway? Did she really just try to have you killed?”
“It is unlikely Durokosso would have taken my life. We should leave this place.”
That sounded like a fabulous idea to Andrew. He caught the swinging harness straps and climbed up Ava’s flank to his usual position at the base of her neck. Ava waited just long enough for him to find his seat before running and launching herself from the aerie.
Andrew held his breath as Ava plummeted down the side of the cliff, finally snapping her wings open and flattening out the dive into a headlong rush down the river. Wind screamed past his ears and tore at his riding leathers, and Andrew tucked himself as flat as he could manage along Ava’s neck.
They hurtled out past the spreading delta and out to sea. Andrew risked a glance back and saw the valley of Vanali disappearing behind them, shrouded in mist and low clouds. There were no other dragons in sight that he could see.
Ava flew out to sea for several minutes before laboriously climbing high above the cloud layer. They could see for miles in all directions, and except for a flock of seagulls, they were alone. Once again, Ava dived back down into the clouds and turned south, heading for Salia.
“You should know, Avandir,” Ava said after they had traveled in silence for nearly an hour, “What you did in the aerie, it was brave, but stupid. Durokosso was surprised by your presence. It will not succeed a second time.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice.”
“But still, I must thank you. Fighting Durokosso would not have gone well. He is one of the eldest, and fierce in combat.”
“What’s the story with Benettikossi anyway? She seemed to hate you.”
“We have much history. Not all of it bad, but most of it. Things will change now, Avandir. I kept you a secret from others of the Koss. Now that Benettikossi knows of you, she will tell the kossi. Not all of the Koss are willing to return to the old ways.”
“How many kossi are there, Ava?”
“A score, maybe. No more.”
So few. If the dragons weren’t so incredibly long-lived, they would have died out years ago. “How many males?”
“Many more. It is rare for the kossi to hatch. Much more common for kosso.”
“Will the other kossi attack you as well? There aren’t enough dragons for you to be killing each other.”
“There are those that fear the return of the old ways. They would destroy me, and you, if they could find you. The others, they fear the kossante, the Incantors, as you call them. If they sense the corruption, they will not hesitate to bring the wrath of the males down upon humanity once more.”
“That would be bad.”
“The city of ith would be destroyed,” Ava agreed. “And the hidden cities of the south would not last long either.”
“You know of them?” Andrew asked, surprised.
“The disguises are good,” Ava said with amusement, “but only hide the cities from the males. With the kossi guiding them, the kosso would purge the cities with ease.”
“I don’t understand,” Andrew said. “I thought the cities were only safe because the dragons could not find them. If you know where the cities are, why didn’t you attack them?”
“To what end?” Ava asked.
“I don’t know, for vitae or food, I guess.”
“The kossi do not eat humans, Avandir.”
“What? You don’t?” Andrew thought back and realized every time he had witnessed a dragon eating a human, it had been a male dragon doing it. “Why not? I mean, I’m glad that you don’t. But why?”
“It is not done,” Ava said simply.
“Wait, when we first met, you threatened to eat me!”
“Desperation only, Avandir. I am glad I did not.”
“Me too. Obviously.”
“Benettikossi will be looking for you. She will try and kill you if she can.”
“She must really hate kossirith,” Andrew said.
“She fears the return of the old times.”
“What do we do, then?”
“I cannot stay near the city of ith, or she will know where you are. You succeeded in destroying the kossante in the dry land to the south. I will tell the kossi of your deeds, and find those who would return to the old ways.”
“How can I help?”
Ava was silent for a few minutes, thinking, then said, “The men of old were unable to destroy the kossante. Proof that you can do so, and are still working to that end would sway many minds.”
“I’ll do what I can,” Andrew said. “But won’t you be in danger if Benettikossi finds you?”
Ava coughed a laugh. “She is a coward. She knows I could end her if we fought.”
“And if she brings a few kosso to help?”
“You worry too much, Avandir.”
Maybe, Andrew thought, maybe I don’t worry enough. As Ava’s wings bore them swiftly to the south, Andrew’s mind went ahead to what he could do to help. Destroying the last of the Incantors was the best way to solve all his problems. Circumstance and luck had given him the opportunity to bring all the Incantors in Nas Shahr together at once, but there was no way that trick would work twice.
They knew of some
of the Incantors, Trent Priah and Bircham Lameda, to name two of them. It was a place to start, at least. Somehow, he had to figure out a way to track them down and kill them one by one.
With Ava gone from the city trying to gain allies among the dragons, it would be up to Andrew to work out how to succeed where the ancients had failed.
Chapter 3
A New Way to Fly
“Are you sure this is safe?”
Michael Esterforth ignored the question until he finished scribing the runeword he was working on, the last leg of the Airweight Saying. The ping, ping, ping of his jewelers hammer was the only thing heard in his workshop for a solid minute. Then the tone of the runing awl changed from a deeper clunk to a musical chime, from one stroke to the next. The Saying was complete, and, in fact, it would require a great deal more effort than the tiny little hammer to produce any change to the piece of iron now.
Michael rolled out from under the trestle legs supporting his latest creation and pushed himself to his feet. “Good morning. What makes you ask?”
Meria Yale crossed her arms and nodded at the contraption. “Look at it. What if one of the Sayings fails? There’s no way it will stay up.”
Michael sighed. It wasn’t an uncommon question from people first exposed to his project, but Meria should know better. “If an Airweight Saying fails on an airship, it comes down too, despite having a balloon full of gas. I did this for a living before the Speaker turned the Guild on its head. I know what I’m doing.”
He reached an arm out, said a mental prayer, and gave his creation a nudge. It rocked easily, despite its size and appearance. Every piece of it was airon, from the wings to the body. It looked like ten tons of cast iron shaped into a rough parody of a bird in flight, but the whole thing weighed less than a child.
“Besides,” he said, “I carved every Airweight Saying myself. There was no dragongas used in creating the airon. Short of being physically destroyed, there’s no way the Sayings will fail.”
Meria ran a hand along a wing. “And you think it will fly?”
“It wasn’t my idea,” Michael said defensively, holding up his hands. “I got to talking with one of the Maar that followed the wardens out of the desert. He showed me the prototypes he had created. They fly, Meria, there’s no doubt about that.”
“Oh, really?” Meria’s skeptical look turned into unwilling curiosity. “Anyone I know?”
“I don’t know. He’s a fellow by the name of Amir. Amir Nassah. Apparently he was quite the inventor back in Nas Shahr. He was trying to build it himself, but couldn’t get the materials light enough or strong enough.”
“Not a problem with alchemy,” Meria allowed. “Where is he? I’d think he wouldn’t want to miss your first flight.”
Michael’s face went a little grey. “Ah. No. I’m not flying it. Ha ha.”
“That would be my honor.”
Meria turned to find a slender Maar entering the workshop behind her, a pair of eyeglasses perched on his beak of a nose, with black hair cut too short to be unruly but still trying anyway. “Amir, I presume?”
“Michael has been telling tales?”
“Amir! Good to see you. You’ve arrived just in time. Meria, this is Amir Nassah. Amir, Meria Yale.”
“A pleasure,” Meria shook the Maar’s hand. “I was just asking Michael how safe this is.”
“Innovation is never safe,” Amir returned with a wry smile. “But we can mitigate the danger somewhat.”
“It’s not like gliders are unheard of,” Michael pointed out. “People have been making and flying them for hundreds of years. We just took it one step further and added propulsion.”
“Alchemy is a fascinating tool, Meria. The things that can be done with it!”
“Tell the truth, Meria,” Michael said with a smile. “You’re here because you’re curious.”
“I’m here because I’ve lost enough friends already,” Meria said with a scowl that fell away after a moment, to be replaced by an unwilling smile. “And because I’m curious. How does it work, anyway?”
“The Speaker told me about the airship Storm Shadow having a swampgas-fueled rocket booster that gave it enough acceleration to outrun a dragon,” Michael said. “It got me thinking. Swampgas is an excellent way to gain the speed, but it’s bulky, dangerous, expensive, and doesn’t last very long. On a small craft like this one, the fuel would outweigh the craft several times over and it would lose practicality. Not to mention being reduced to a glider once you ran out of fuel.”
“This is where I would always get stuck,” Amir explained. “The weight of the fuel and the distance the craft could fly were too limited.”
“The solution is alchemical,” Michael finished, “The exact Saying is Igiran’dolanir, with an add chain containing the effect. I used a shielding chain to direct the blast and control the output. That part was the tricky bit, I won’t lie.”
“I am not going to pretend like I understand it,” Amir said, smiling and showing a bit too much gum, “but the results speak for themselves.”
Meria worked through the Saying and saw how the runes would work together to produce a fiery blast with a kinetic push. Without testing it, she couldn’t say how it would act. Tinkering with the fire rune, Ig, was always dangerous. “And you’re comfortable flying it?” Meria asked doubtfully.
“I flew gliders of my own creation off cliffs in the desert,” Amir said confidently, “Michael’s reproduction is excellent.”
“Well,” Meria shrugged, “what are we waiting for?”
“That’s what I want to hear!” Michael cheered. “Come on, help us get it out of the city somewhere safe to test it.”
Getting the vehicle, dubbed the monoplane by Amir, out of the city and up a suitably steep hill for testing turned out to be more difficult than any of them were anticipating. Without the weight of a pilot giving the monoplane some weight, it tended to catch even the slightest breeze. Wrestling what amounted to an enormous kite out of the city took nearly an hour. Once the three of them got it up a suitable hill and Amir climbed into the control bench the morning was nearly over and their stomachs were growling.
Meria sat on one wing to weigh it down and leaned back to catch her breath. With Michael on the other wing and Amir strapped into the bench, it didn’t feel like it was going to cartwheel down the hill at the first gust of wind. “Okay, we’re here. Now what?”
“If we were to simply push it down the hill,” Michael explained, “it would glide with the wind. It’s sunny out, so Amir could find a thermal and ride it upward.”
“Pretend I know nothing about flying,” Meria rolled her eyes. “I’ve been on one airship flight in my life, and that was five years ago when I first came to Andronath.”
“Hot air rises,” Michael said, “so where the sun is heating a stretch of bare rock, the air heats up and rises upward. The glider is light enough that it can use that upward flow to gain altitude.”
“Why didn’t you just say that then?”
“He did,” Amir said, his voice muffled. “But it is no matter now. I am ready!”
“Last chance to call it off,” Meria said, half-joking.
“Do you want a push?” Michael asked, ignoring Meria.
“It would help,” came the muffled reply.
“Okay, Meria,” Michael instructed, “we’re going to push evenly on the wing tips. Be careful of the moving parts in the back. They could pinch a finger.”
Meria swung herself off the wing. Large chunks of the wing started moving as Amir did something with the controls inside. She kept her fingers clear and gripped the outside edge where it seemed to be solid. She swallowed, trying to get some moisture back into a suddenly dry mouth. “Ready.”
Following Michael’s lead, Meria pushed the monoplane down the hill, moving slowly at first, then gradually speeding up to a jog. The monoplane lifted between them easily as they gained speed then drifted up over their heads. Meria slowed to a halt next to Michael, her head craned back
to follow Amir. He rose higher and tilted to the left to turn in a broad spiral.
“It’s just gliding for now. He must be getting a feel for the controls.”
Amir’s forward velocity was starting to dwindle. Fire burst from the tail assembly and Meria gasped. Beside her, Michael whooped and threw his hands in the air. The monoplane darted forward like a spooked horse, trailing a ribbon of heat.
For a few minutes, Amir put the monoplane through its paces, testing the sensitivity of the turning and thruster. Michael stood at Meria’s shoulder and narrated, breaking down every turn and spurt of speed. Meria just watched, her heart in her throat, until Amir finally came in for a bumpy landing.
Michael beat her to the monoplane by a few paces and helped Amir off the control bench. Both the men were alternating between shooting technical observations at each other and laughing with giddy enthusiasm.
Despite herself, Meria found their cheer to be contagious and soon she was grinning along with them. “Michael, aren’t you going to give it a try?” she asked.
Michael’s enthusiasm faded a little. “I don’t know. There are a lot of adjustments that need to be made.”
“You have flown gliders before,” Amir chided him. “This is no different. Easier! There is no need to worry about stalling or finding thermals.”
A cautious smile returned to Michael’s face. “If you say so.”
“I do! This creation of yours, it is genius. A marvel of alchemy! It would be a crime not to enjoy it yourself.” Amir put his hand on Michael’s shoulder, having to reach up quite a ways to do so.
“Besides,” Meria said, “if you’re going to teach me how to fly it you need to practice yourself first, right?”
“Teach you?” Michael asked, his eyes going wide.
“Don’t look so surprised. Just look at you two! Who wouldn’t want to try it after seeing the monoplane fly!”
Amir smiled slyly at Michael. “This I told you.”
Michael was nodding his head in acceptance when his face changed and he peered into the distance. “The Speaker is back.”