Inquest

by Emily Thompson

  “Honestly, a jungle?” Jonas asked Twist testily. “Are we even still at the South Pole?”

  “Well, I never did see a black flag,” Twist muttered. Jonas shot him a level look. “Honestly, I’m not sure of anything just now—” Twist began, when a sudden, rumbling, rolling vibration in the ground stilled his words.

  Myra jumped to her feet, rushing to Twist. He instantly put an arm around her waist to steady her, while she gasped in surprise and held tightly to him. Jonas reached out to steady himself with a hand on the nearest tree. The vibration grew into a more violent and constant shudder before it suddenly ceased.

  “What the hell was that?” Jonas snapped.

  “Oh!” Vane gasped, rushing to join them. He turned to Jonas with a brilliant smile. “It’s Inari’s Island! I didn’t realize we were actually here,” he added excitedly as he gazed more lovingly at the jungle around them. “I can’t believe we get to travel this way!” he exclaimed with rapture.

  “What’s he on about?” Twist asked Jonas. He noticed the slightest sensation in his stomach, which felt uncannily like the rising feeling that came with an airship launch. Since his feet were still firmly on the sandy path through the jungle, he dismissed the feeling as nerves.

  “Yes, Vane, what are you talking about?” Jonas snapped at the fox. “What was that shaking?”

  “That was takeoff,” Vane said gleefully, taking Jonas’s hand in his obvious excitement. “Just look! See for yourself,” he said brightly, already moving swiftly back toward the edge of the jungle as he dragged Jonas along with him.

  “Let go of me!” Jonas growled, helpless but to follow.

  Twist and Myra followed after them. Vane came to a stop at the very edge of the jungle, and Jonas’s protests paused abruptly when he looked into the icy world outside. Twist peered past them and was shocked to see that the ground now stopped at the edge of the jungle.

  He gazed out in complete confusion as the ice field continued to fall away into the growing depths, until he realized that the jungle itself was rising into the air. He instantly feared that the sandy path might fall away as well at any moment and clung tightly to a nearby tree; Myra, clinging to her own tree, seemed to have the same exact idea.

  “Vane, what’s going on?” Jonas asked, staring at the ice that now lay far below.

  “Isn’t it marvelous?” Vane asked him, clutching Jonas’s hand close to his chest in his glee. “I’ve heard stories about Inari’s Flying Island all my life. I thought it was just a fairy tale! This island is like Shengri-la to a kitsune,” he added with the widest of smiles. “Only foxes who Inari personally chooses get to live here. And those who do get to grow up so much more quickly and into greater power than we can any other way.”

  “Vane?” Jonas asked flatly, his tone warning.

  “Yes, Jonny?”

  “Let go of my damned hand.”

  “Oh,” Vane muttered. “Right. Sorry.” The instant he released Jonas’s hand, Jonas pulled it quickly away and wiped it on his waistcoat with a grimace.

  “So, it’s not going to fall apart?” Twist asked as he gingerly pulled himself away from his tree. The ground still seemed solid enough. Myra was already crouching down at the very edge of the new precipice, staring in wonder at the world far below.

  “Oh, sure,” Vane answered him brightly. “Solid as a rock,” he added, stomping at the ground. To Twist’s great relief, the sandy ground held firm.

  “This is ever so fantastic!” Myra exclaimed suddenly, turning to Vane with a smile as bright as his.

  “Isn’t it, though?” Vane remarked, his glee growing in the light of hers.

  As Myra began to excitedly ask him more about the myth that was now bearing them into the sky, Twist found himself feeling highly uneasy. He couldn’t remember another moment before when he had seen Myra treat Vane in such a friendly way. It seemed somehow quite dangerous to do so now. Jonas stepped closer to Twist without any notice from Vane or Myra.

  “Twist,” he said quietly as he continued to look out over the edge, “tell me everything is going to be all right.”

  Twist looked at him in shock. The idea of Jonas asking for reassurance struck him like a fish asking for a bicycle. Something of his surprise must have seeped into the buzz in Jonas’s neck, because he turned to look at Twist questioningly.

  “You don’t have to mean it,” Jonas offered sheepishly. “I’d just rather like to hear it. We’re on a flying island, at the mercy of a magical fox who’s only taking us anywhere because dragons want her to.” Twist shivered unconsciously as the word “dragon” hit him. “Sorry,” Jonas offered with a sigh, reaching out to rub at Twist’s back. “And meanwhile, Skye’s free of her bottle but out cold and no help at all, while Vane is a constant annoyance. I just feel I’m nearing my wit’s end.”

  Twist’s shock slowly melted into something warmer, and he found himself smiling at Jonas, sensing the intimacy that ran thick in Jonas’s softly spoken request. Twist collected himself into a proper posture. “Chin up, old boy,” he said with dignity and conviction. “We’re all going to be fine.”

  Jonas smiled back to him and shook his head. “Thanks.”

  Twist felt the buzz in his neck settle somewhat, while Jonas appeared a bit steadier as well. Twist managed to get Myra’s attention away from Vane for long enough to suggest walking back to where they’d left Skye. Myra held his arm and walked beside him but continued to talk brightly with the fox, much to Twist’s annoyance.

  Nevertheless, he felt his own thoughts settle into order as they walked. Even if he was vastly out of his depth in this new situation, it was nothing for him to feel inadequate about. If an intrepid, experienced, and cavalier sky pirate like Jonas could feel uneasy about things, then surely a simple clockmaker had every reason to feel so as well.

  Being afraid or confused wasn’t the problem. He no longer had the luxury to let those feelings overrun him.

  “The village isn’t far,” Inari said, after returning shortly after takeoff to lead everyone deeper into the jungle.

  Jonas hoisted Skye’s still-unconscious form into his arms again—refusing Vane’s offer to help, thanks to the unseemly leer the fox wore when offering it—and carried her on while he and the others followed Inari down the path and into a clearing that could only exist in a fairy tale.

  A village made entirely of tall, red, multistory pagodas that stood like sentries on an array of rocky knolls filled the sunny space, while little blue rivers laced through the sandy ground. Trees full of tiny pink blossoms swayed gently in the warm wind, where they nestled into the edges of the dense surrounding jungle.

  Easily a hundred seemingly human figures, all wearing Japanese-style dress, went about their own lively business, while Twist spotted fox tails of varying colors on every one of them—and more than a few scurrying foxes as well. At second glance, he noticed that none of them bore single tails, but each had two or more. Beyond the strangeness of the village’s inhabitants, Twist’s senses found every detail too aesthetically flawless, the color too vivid, the sunlight too clear, and the air too fresh to belong anywhere on Earth.

  A groggy sound caught at Twist’s attention. He turned to see Skye, still held aloft in Jonas’s arms, beginning to come around. She reached up to her brow with a hand, shielding her eyes from the light.

  “Skye?” Jonas asked, the relief and joy naked on his voice.

  “What the…?” she muttered, and then frowned as her clear blue eyes sharpened suddenly and she looked up to his face. “Why the hell are you carrying me?” she demanded.

  “You fainted,” Jonas said, looking just slightly away from her face.

  “What? No!” Skye bellowed furiously. “Damn it, put me down!” she yelled, struggling to free herself. Jonas hurried to set her on her feet, only to be shoved away the moment he did. “I didn’t faint! That stinking genie must have zapped me with another damned spell is all!” she protested, straightening her clothing as her pale cheeks flushed with pink. />
  “She said that the air pressure was bad for you and cast another spell to fix it,” Myra offered timidly.

  “That’s it!” Skye said, pointing. “I didn’t faint like a girl.”

  Vane leaned closer to Jonas. “She is a girl, isn’t she?”

  Jonas didn’t answer him but kept his eyes on the ground as he clearly struggled to hold back a smile. Twist and everyone else watched he and Skye in total bewilderment. Skye crossed her arms, regarding Jonas with a frigid glare.

  “You did it again, you bastard,” Skye spat at him acidly. “I sent Kali with you so that she might be able to save your ass, not so you could go and save mine again! I didn’t ask you to save me from that stupid curse.”

  Some of Jonas’s smile escaped onto the corners of his mouth. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, his head bowed. “I promise I’ll leave you in peril the next time you try to rescue me.”

  “Oh!” Skye growled in rage, advancing on him with a raised fist. Twist felt a hot jolt of elation rush through the buzz in his neck.

  Jonas backed away, raising his hands protectively, while he laughed brightly. Skye stopped short of punching him, slapping open-handed at his arms in harmless fury instead. Twist realized that his own mouth was hanging open in shock as he watched and snapped it closed. Beside him, Myra had begun to giggle softly into her hand. Skye’s fury apparently spent, she turned her back sharply on Jonas once he managed to contain his laughter. Her smoldering glare landed on Inari and cooled into surprise.

  “Well, you look like fun,” Inari said, smiling brightly at Skye. “Are you all right now?”

  Skye stared back at her, clearly startled by her appearance, and nodded vaguely. “What the hell did I miss?” Skye asked, now taking in the sight of the village around her.

  “We’re on a flying island full of foxes,” Jonas offered.

  “I’m not talking to you,” Skye spat over her shoulder to him.

  Jonas smiled.

  “I’ve arranged a place for you to stay on our journey,” Inari said brightly, drawing the others’ attentions. “Let me show you,” she offered with a gesture.

  Now that it was clear that Skye wasn’t going to assault Jonas again nor fall into another faint, they all followed Inari into one of the tall buildings. She gave them an entire floor on one of the open pagodas to use. The wide eight-sided floor of tatami mats was surrounded by eight red-painted wooden columns at the outer edge and curtains of thin, flowing, white-and-red silk that hung between the columns as the only sort of walls. There were a number of thin mattresses folded away on one side of the room, but there was only a low wooden table and a number of thin cushions placed in the center of the otherwise empty floor when Twist climbed the last of the narrow steps that led between levels.

  What the fourth-story room might have lacked in furnishings, however, it more than made up for in a breathtaking panoramic view. To one side, the rich, verdant jungle canopy hung just within reach at this height, while to the other side the whole of the village lay spread out below in all of its picturesque, dreamlike perfection. Beyond the far edge of the village, Twist spied a horizon of sparkling blue through the distant trees and guessed that the island must be flying out over the ocean by now.

  A quick check of the few low, pleasantly fragrant wooden chests that sat along the jungle side of the room revealed that all of their luggage had been delivered from Zéphyrin’s ship. Myra clapped her hands in joy to see that none of her pretty things had been lost. Twist smiled widely when he found his book in one of the chests. Something about the familiar tome felt grounding even in such a fantastic place.

  “Will this do?” Inari asked with a gesture to their room.

  “It’s lovely,” Vane answered with a smile. “Thank you very much,” he added, giving her a shallow bow.

  Inari smiled back to him and reached into one of her wide, open-ended sleeves. “I thought you might like some tea,” she said, drawing a full tea set on a black lacquer tray out of her sleeve.

  “Cute trick,” Skye said, smiling to Inari. Inari nodded her head with a smile in return.

  Twist stared at the steaming little clay pot of tea, the set of six handleless cups, and the tiny pink flower in its crystal bud vase, unable to imagine how she could have kept something like that up a sleeve. It seemed too large to even fit properly, let alone the spilling. Vane stepped up to Inari instantly, taking the tea set from her in exchange for profuse thanks. He placed the set on the table, knelt beside it, and began to serve the tea without a moment’s hesitation.

  “Now then,” Inari said to the others. “Our masters have asked that I explain to you whatever you are unaware of before you arrive. To save time having to explain anything themselves, I imagine. Has anyone told you where we’re heading?”

  “All we heard was something about an astrolabe,” Jonas said with a shrug.

  “I see,” Inari said with a kindly smile. “Then why don’t we have a seat? I’ll happily tell you what I can,” she said with a gesture to the table.

  Twist and the others took seats around the table, sitting on the thin cushions. Inari folded her pale legs beneath her to sit kneeling, while her many furry fox tails fanned out behind her and moved occasionally like a gentle wave. Skye leaned back to see her tails more clearly, watching with a curious eye. Inari didn’t seem to notice or mind.

  “Thank you,” Inari said to Vane as he offered her the first cup of tea. She took it and placed it in front of her on the table without taking a sip. “Now, where shall I begin?” she asked Twist, who sat directly across from her. Everyone else glanced to him. In the absence of any guidance, he opened with the most basic of questions.

  “Where, exactly, are we going?”

  “Hawaii,” Inari answered.

  “Really?” Jonas asked, sounding pleased with the idea.

  “Yes,” she said with a nod. “The volcanoes of Hawaii are one of the largest enclaves of dragons in the world.” Twist suppressed his shudder at the sound of that blasted word, while no one but Jonas seemed to notice his discomfort. Twist shook his head to calm Jonas’s attentive glance as Inari continued. “Their greatest engineers and magical scientists congregate there to work on their interplanetary endeavors.”

  Twist noticed out of the corner of his eye that Skye was quietly fiddling with the locket-like watch that hung on its long chain around her neck. He remembered her using the piece to communicate with other Rooks in the past and did his best not to draw attention to anything clandestine that she might be trying to do.

  “Hang on a moment,” Jonas said to Inari as Vane stopped beside him to place a cup of tea before him as well. “I’ve been to Hawaii loads of times and never seen any magical beasts.”

  Inari looked at him, appearing confused. “They wouldn’t show themselves to humans. They work either deep in the volcanoes or on the highest peaks where the air is thin enough to allow them to see the stars clearly. I will be taking you to Mauna Kea.”

  “Where on Mauna Kea?” Skye asked brightly. “It’s huge. Will we be on the Kailua side or the Hilo side?” Twist looked to her questioningly, hearing her spout such foreign words so easily. “One side has better coffee,” she supplied as an answer to him.

  “Neither side,” Inari answered, smiling at her. “I’ll be taking you to the summit.”

  “Oh…” Jonas muttered, clearly disappointed. “No surfing, then.”

  “Perhaps your keepers will let you play in the ocean if you do a good job of fixing their astrolabe,” Inari offered. “Now, what is your next question?” she asked, taking a sip of her tea. Vane, having served everyone else, retook his seat with a teacup of his own.

  “What is the astrolabe, and why are we, specifically, expected to repair it?” Twist asked, gesturing to Jonas and himself.

  “It is a large clockwork machine that is supposed to track the journeys of the planets with unfailing accuracy,” Inari supplied. “It was built by one of the greatest human clockmakers who ever lived, the savant son of
the famous Spanish clockmaker, J. R. Losada.”

  “Wait, José Rodríguez Losada?” Twist echoed in surprise.

  “Who?” Jonas asked.

  “He’s a master clockmaker,” Twist said to Jonas. “I’ve actually seen some of his clocks. He was a genius who built some of the finest marine chronometers for the Spanish armada, up until he died a few years ago. But I had no idea he had a son,” he said to Inari. “I read that his nephew inherited the business.”

  “So you do read newspapers,” Jonas remarked thoughtfully. “You just skip everything that doesn’t have to do with clocks.” Twist gave him an incredulous glance.

  “Few people know about Losada’s son,” Inari said, watching Twist closely as she spoke. “The young man was disowned by his father and then vanished when he was younger than you are now. Very few of his creations ever made it into private hands. What he did make, however, surpassed his father’s skill enormously.”

  “Good heavens…” Twist breathed, struggling to imagine such works.

  “Rumor has it,” Inari went on, still watching Twist with her endless, shining, black eyes, “he married a gypsy woman who taught him to use his clockwork for magic. Looking at the astrolabe, it’s an easy thing to believe.”

  “Then, why isn’t this Spaniard fixing the thing?” Jonas asked.

  “As I said, he vanished,” Inari answered, finally taking her weighty gaze away from Twist to look at Jonas’s averted eyes. “He reappeared once over a decade ago and built the astrolabe in return for some magical assistance from the dragons.”

  Twist sucked in a sharp breath as the strange sensation rippled over his skin again. Inari glanced to him. Twist took a sip of his fragrant and surprisingly subtle green tea as an excuse to look away from her.

  “Can we avoid that word, please?” Jonas asked. “Just call them big lizards or something.”

  “My apologies,” Inari said, watching Twist again. He dearly wished that she wouldn’t. “I didn’t realize. Anyway,” she went on more lightly, “after the astrolabe was built, the young clockmaker vanished once again. Not even magic can find him now. But if Twist could mend the clockwork princess,” she said with a smile to Myra, “then surely he can mend the astrolabe.”