Knight of Wands (A Steampunk Fantasy Adventure Novel) (Devices of War Book 2) (12 page)

She raised her eyebrows. “Your soul is bound to hers, Synn, whether you like it or not. That connection is never going away.”

I knew that. “Someone helped me, a priestess. She managed to somehow dampen the bond I have with Nix. It—I don’t know, Oki, it was kind of amazing.”

My sister stilled and turned toward me, a frown thick in her round face. “I thought you were sweet on Keeley.”

Sweet on—where had that come from? “She’s one of my best friends. What made you think that?”

Her frown only deepened, her eyes narrowed. “You’re of an age now when you should be thinking of finding a woman, marrying her, having children, and settling down. Especially now that you’re the El’Asim.”

My heart skipped a beat. My father had been the El’Asim. “I’m not ready for that.”

“For which part? Your family needs their leader, Synn, and they need heirs to pass the leadership onto.”

“The El’Asim aren’t like that.”

“Entirely? No. But your bloodline has lead your tribe for generations. If you’re not planning to have children, you need to marry Zara off or find someone else who will replace you.”

I closed my eyes. Those were the kinds of things I didn’t know how to handle. Yet.

The metal grate rose, and she stepped onto the platform, her lips firmly pressed together.

I followed. We were surrounded in rock, but now that I knew what I was looking for, I could see the seams, where it had to separate so the
lethara
could maneuver. How had I never noticed this before?

“What did they do to you in all this time?”

The pulleys squeaked after the technician closed the metal grate behind me, and we rose.

“We talked. Ate cookies. Drank tea.”

Oki elbowed me, but let it drop.

I didn’t want to repeat myself a hundred times. The important information was that I was fine, there was no lasting damage, and I wasn’t bonded to anyone else.

We stopped and the grate opened to what I had called the communications floor. From the looks of it, I was going to have to call it something else.

This level was one very large platform, but I knew that was impossible. The
lethara’s
trunks stood out as gentle reminders of the feat he’d just pulled off. So . . .

I looked down as I walked and saw that instead of rope bridges, there were planks covering the gaps. Fantastic.

The equipment was made out of the Hand’s metal. I had no idea what some of these things did. There were a lot of dials, screens, lines, numbers, buttons, switches, but everything was in Adalic.

I lifted one corner of my lips. “Oki, my little sister.”

She glared.

I chuckled. For all that she was older than me, she was still shorter. “Tell me what we have here.”

She did.

The radio had been modified and now worked even better, with a long range antennae that worked with the biometric long range antennae in our
lethara’s
brain. I looked up at his underbelly overhead. It was gelatinous and in constant movement, pulsing with different lights. Somewhere in there was an antennae. Interesting.

The sonar and radar had morphed, growing in size. According to Oki, our sonar had a longer range as well, but had changed significantly because we’d been able to tap into our
lethara’s
biometrics.

Based on what they’d learned with the sonar, they’d been able to apply the same basic principles to the radar. Though it wasn’t working quite as well as the sonar, it was still working better than anything the Hands had. At least that we knew of.

Our communications had altered as well. The previous version of radio that the Families had used to communicate had been awkward for everyone. Joshua, who apparently had entirely too much time on his hands, had adapted a type of communication that the ocwhals used. They were a really big fish capable of communicating via song over long distances.

The bad news was that it only worked underwater for now. So any above ocean messages had to be communicated the old fashioned way.

The good news was that Joshua was working on an adaptation for that as well.

A red light lit the dashboard and a warning buzzed through the air before one of the technicians flipped a switch. The buzzing went away, as did the blinking red light.

“What was that?”

The technician looked up at me, startled, his almond-shaped eyes widening as soon as he saw who he was talking to. “That,
sayyd
, is our pollution detector.”

Oki stepped up and the technician sighed with relief.

I frowned at the back of his head. What was that about?

“We’ve taken in a few of the Hands’ planes. They burn fuels. Keeley—who has officially become your
lethara’s
healer—was the first to point out that the fumes they emit were making him sick. This tells us when we need to circulate the air around the docks.”

“But the city is open to the cavern.”

“We just opened up from a tight space. That’s perfectly normal. Trust me. Your
lethara
is quite happy with this new development. His neural system is linked to the device. It’s possible he just wanted some air. We are in a confined space. I doubt he’s happy about it.”

I nodded and looked up at him. He filled nearly the entire cavern. He was a creature of the sea and the air. If I were him, I would feel a little claustrophobic as well. I reached out and put my hand on the closest trunk. His skin was thin and almost slimy. “If he needs to travel to open waters, then I suggest you let him.”

Oki nodded and turned back to the controls. “Well, I know you have some catching up to do with Keeley.” She winked at me. “In your absence, Mother named me acting command, so feel free to scamper off.”

Acting command, huh? I really didn’t think Mother would let her leave. “Where’s Ryo?”

“Playing acting command of the Fleet.” She turned to me. “Really, Synn, you need to figure out what you’re going to do there. You have two cities. You can’t be in both places at once.”

If we had a working communications system that that worked better, I might be able to.

I headed down to the docks, which currently submerged in the water. A thin film poured from the larger trunks of the
lethara
and surrounded the piers to keep the water out. Airplanes of several different types littered the docks, all one or two-seaters. Some had wings that had to flap. Others had propellers. I needed to incorporate this technology into my fleet of airships. If we ever found ourselves in a fight with the Hands and their planes, our airships were going to need something more than sails and wind to maneuver.

What if we could pull the sails, stash the rigging and masts, and use propellers instead when needed? What would we use for fuel? We didn’t believe in harvesting jelly gas. We believed in cohabitating with the air jellies.

I needed to talk to Joshua and discuss them with him. He was the real genius anyway.

It was time to leave the docks and find Keeley and Yvette. I was directed to what the people of Peacock Rock called the west common room. The water fell lighter now and the harvesting of the wall algae had stopped.

There were a few more familiar faces.

Ryo turned, his black hair tied in a tight top knot, his slanted eyes nearly closed with happiness. He wrapped me in a rib-crushing hug. He wasn’t dressed in the silks of the Ino people, but instead he wore the knee pants, high boots, and white shirt with the red sash of the El’Asim. The only difference was the placement of his sword. My curved blade normally rested on my hip. His long sword was strapped across his back.

“It’s good to see you, little brother,” he said, pulling away, clapping me on the shoulder. “I am happy to see you are alive and in one piece.”

I pointed at his sword strap. There was a leather circle with the emblem of the El’Asim Family, the spitfyre falcon. One didn’t simply wear this. It had to be awarded. “You have a story to tell, brother.”

He opened his mouth.

Someone pushed her dark brown, curly-haired head under my arm and wormed her way in, taking my head in her hands.

I grinned and released my brother to welcome my not so favorite sister. She was older than me and never let me forget it. “Zara.” I released her head and gave her a tight squeeze. “It is good to see you. Are things all right?”

She nodded, burying her head in my shoulder. Then she pushed away and slugged me in the arm. Hard. “I was worried about you.”

I snorted, rubbing away the pain. “I’m fine, Zar.”

Her dark eyes lit with fiery worry. “Don’t you ever do that again.”

I tucked her deeper into my arms. “I won’t.” I hoped.

Her falcon settled on her shoulder. His feather tail poked at my arm. His lizard tail curled around it and gripped my elbow. Even Fadi seemed to be glad to see me.

“Are you whole, my
sayyd
?” Isra asked behind me.

I twisted around, not letting Zara go.

Isra’s scarred face rose. Her eyes, marked with deep crow’s feet, met mine in defiance. She was tall and severe, her dark brown hair pulled back in a braid, her raggedly gloved hand resting on the curved sword at her hip.

“I am whole, Isra Um’Binte.”

Hala, her spitfyre falcon stood guard on Isra’s shoulder. Hala was small for a spitfyre. Her markings were dark, her chest pale. As she watched me, a plume of smoke escaped her beak.

“Are you coming home to your people,
sayyd
?” Isra’s eyes were like knives, holding mine with a steel intensity.

“I don’t know. I hope so, but I feel as though there is a long path before me I still have yet to travel.”

My father’s second in command nodded. “You will need to set things in order.”

“I am aware. How have our people been to you?”

She blinked, her iron-clad gaze shifting off of me to rest on Ryo. “They required a male.”

Or for Zara to step up and claim her Family’s right, which she wouldn’t. She never wanted it and she was ill prepared for it. There were people willing to shoulder responsibility and those that weren’t. I was learning that the hard way, fast.

“Your mother was kind enough to let us borrow Ryo, but we are tasked to find a more permanent solution.”

“Mother wants Zara to find a mate,” Ryo said, his voice dark, his expression even darker.

Zara sighed.

“And this mate is supposed to lead our people?” I asked.

My warrior brother nodded. “I wish I could lead the sky people, Synn. I love it up there. I feel as though I was born to be there.”

I smiled. “You would leave Ino City’s protection to who, then? Makoto?” Makoto was older than me, but, like Zara, had no wish to rule. He preferred numbers to people.

“Oki will lead them. She can find someone worthy to protect her city. Someone who isn’t me.”

“We will figure something out.” I pressed a kiss on top of Zara’s head.

She stepped out of my arms. Her lips were firm, her brown eyes narrowed, her hands fisted. “I will not marry someone simply because Mother says I should.”

“And if I say it?” It felt so weird to look at my older sister and even dream of issuing an order like that. She told stories of dressing me up like a doll and wiping my butt as a baby. How was I ever going to fill my father’s roll as leader?

Her hands fidgeted with the dark purple fringe of the handkerchief tied around her slim waist, the gold hilt of her throwing dagger protruding from her belt. Fadi groomed her hair. “You are my
sayyd
and my brother. If you wish it so, I will choose a man.”

“Preparations for the choosing of her mate have already begun,” Ryo said.

I shook my head. “Mother could learn a little patience.”

Ryo’s eyes widened. “I say we eat, take a tour of this fantastic city, and you tell us how you were able to escape from Sky City a second time.”

Laughing, we all turned to the food slab.

CHAPTER 11

SENDING OUT THE INVITATIONS

Ino City
radioed in saying they were located in the western bay the next day. That didn’t give my siblings, friends, and I nearly enough time to catch up. Mother’s arrival heralded many things I didn’t know if I was ready to face, but I wasn’t the type of person who liked to hide.

The easiest way to meet her was via Asim City. The undulating underbelly of my
lethara
came closer and closer as the city shifted inside his tentacles. Technicians scrambled, removing the planks that connected each square of floor so they could rise individually, or sink and fold under. The people watching the consoles moved their equipment with practiced efficiency.

Asim City worked like a well-oiled machine. I had no doubts that was thanks to my sister.

Oki, Ryo and Keeley seemed unaffected. They didn’t even twitch. Zara, Yvette and I, though . . . My skin was clammy. My breath was shallow. The world around me constricted. The air grew heavier.

What remained of command central was four platforms square, just wide enough for most of our equipment, though there were still a few pieces on platforms below us.

A transparent veil of skin cascaded from the
lethara’s
medusa. The cavern disappeared. His medusa was thick and hard to see through, even though it was largely translucent. My stomach rose into my throat and my ears popped.