Knight of Wands (A Steampunk Fantasy Adventure Novel) (Devices of War Book 2) (9 page)

FLASHING RAIN

The storm
cleared a kilometre north of Sky City, and I was able to drop in altitude, which was good. The stars might tell me which way to go, but I was trying to find an island. Even the best stargazer couldn’t tell a pilot how to find an island in the middle of the ocean via the stars.

Enough light emanated from Kel’Mar to illuminate the choppy waters. The storm was following us, and as such, the wind terminals were strong.

When Egolda City had been destroyed months ago, I’d taken on as many survivors as I could, even though there was a target on my back. Tensions had been high, but we’d still managed to find the survivors safe harbor on an isolated, uninhabited island.

I just hoped things were good and that they’d been able to settle like they’d intended. Otherwise, this could be futile.

Carilyn watched me as we flew in silence.

I decided to ignore her. I couldn’t trust her. Yes, she seemed likable enough, but most people were. It wasn’t until they followed through with their intentions, that things swung out of control. I had no doubt that Carilyn thought her intentions were good, that her queen was only trying to help, but those manipulative little dirt-humpers had played me for the last time.

I hoped.

“You’re planning on ditching us somewhere, aren’t you?”

I nodded. “We’ll land somewhere so I can catch a ride elsewhere, and then you can leave.”

“We’re going with you.”

A needle on one of the gauges dipped. A motor on the right wing changed in pitch. The control stick dipped, then righted itself as the motor regained its normal operating roar. “So you can spy on me?”

“Partially.”

I tipped my head. “Don’t tell me that you want out of the Hands, that you want to save the world, and that you think I’m the best bet because I won’t believe it.”

“Why not?”

“You were born to the Hands, Carilyn. You said so yourself. You don’t know anything else.”

“I want peace.”

“And what would that peace look like?” The ocean rolled underneath. Dark shadows appeared on the waters just barely within sight. “How does the world look under the rule of the Hands?”

“Safe.”

“For who? You?” So many conversations flooded through my head, so many emotions, so many visions of memories. What would the rule of one person look like to the world? Sane? Quiet? No. It would mean that other peoples would have to be defeated first, all of them, and there were just too many of us—too many tribes, too many Families.

She didn’t say anything else.

“Why are you here, Aiyanna?”

The priestess didn’t say anything for the longest time. Then her soft voice came over the headphones, barely heard over the rattle of the engines. “The High Priestess ordered it.”

“I thought you were a high priestess.”

“I am.”

“Hehewuti is the Grand High Priestess,” Carilyn said with a great deal of respect. “If she asked her to join us then . . . ” She leaned forward and looked up.

Neither of their reasons made me trust them. My plan hadn’t changed.

“What was the message from Hehewuti?” Carilyn asked.

“Beware, the Tower comes,” the priestess said.

My face contorted. That made no sense to me.

“The Tower?” In the red light of Kel’mar above and the orange lights from the dashboard, Carilyn’s face paled. “Why?”

Aiyanna was silent for a long moment. “You know why, Officer Domitius.”

I didn’t care either way. I was through with the Hands, and wanted nothing more to do with their queens. I was tired of being their pawn simply because of my Mark.

The islands came into sight. I wasn’t going to land on the island with the crescent-shaped bay. The white sands reflected Kel’mar’s light, making it almost appear to be pink.
That
was where I needed to go, but I wasn’t leading Carilyn there.

Light flashed behind on our starboard side, and the winds grew even more choppy. The storm was enclosing us. I needed to hurry if I was going to land this thing without crashing.

Unfortunately, the smaller islands were mostly mountains with no flat places at all. There was no way to safely land. The only place was just off the crescent bay.

I was torn. Carilyn wasn’t going to be able to take off in this. Rain was hitting us harder than the wind. This storm promised to be a lot worse.

I was tempted to rise back out of the clouds and keep flying to Kiwidinok, the wild lands. We could find shelter there, and be able to land far enough inland to be protected from the storm.

I checked the fuel gauge. It was nearly empty. Of course. Why anyone would build a vessel that couldn’t replenish its own fuel was beyond me. It was ludicrous.

I circled the islands one more time.

We were out of luck.

I pointed out the glass dome to the spot just behind the beach that had been pink just moments before. It barely gleamed as a lighter shadow among all the others. “We’re taking her down there, unless you have spare fuel cells somewhere.”

“We do,” she shouted, “but we can’t refuel in midair.”

I shook my head and took the control stick in two hands. The wind pushed us further away from the island than I wanted. I altered coarse, finding a path that would allow the forceful winds to assist me in getting us to our landing spot.

“I can’t see anything,” Carilyn shouted.

Of course not. “Just help me keep her steady as we descend.”

She nodded, her full attention apparently focused on the panes of glass.

The landscape lit up in flashes of brilliant blue light. Rain fell in sheets onto the rolling ocean.

“You’re taking us there?” Carilyn shouted.

I didn’t answer. I thought it was pretty self-evident, and I needed all the concentration I could spare.

Flash.

A black mass morphed into jagged cliffs.

Darkness took over again, the landmass hiding in rain and shadow.

Flash.

The jagged rocks were closer. A lot closer than I’d anticipated. We were being pushed too far. I corrected, swinging us back around. The spot I’d seen before hid in blackness, almost as though it had been swallowed up by a void.

Flash.

The cliffs were further away.

There. I could barely make out the small meadow.

It disappeared. I peered through the darkness, seeing only the reflection of the gauge lights beaming back at me from the rain slicked windows.

Flash-BOOM!

The entire aircraft shook.

Aiyanna yelped.

Carilyn glanced at me, her knuckles white in the orange light.

I couldn’t afford to take my attention off landing.

Gently. Gently.

It still felt odd to have an aircraft of any type touching earth. Why in the world would anyone want that?

As we got closer to the ground, the propellers pushed against the earth to slow our descent. They blew the vegetation, the trees, the vines.

The vegetation under the dome was thick and hid the earth, which wasn’t nearly as level as I’d originally thought, but then again, I was an airman. I didn’t know much about dirt.

Carilyn watched the gauges, shouting orders, but for the most part, she let me control the navigation stick. When we were settled, Carilyn twisted back and stared at Aiyanna. I couldn’t see the priestess’ face, but Carilyn raised her eyebrows, nodded, and turned back to her gauges. “We should shut her down, wait out the storm.”

I nodded and let her do that.

It got eerily quiet as the engines puttered to a stop. The only thing I could hear was the patter of the rain, which wasn’t falling as hard as it had seemed while in the air, and the murmuring wind.

I swiveled in my chair so I could see both of them and took off my headphones. “Would you like to explain why you followed me?”

“Saved your ass more like,” Carilyn said, tossing her headphones on the dash. They slid and fell to the floor.

“I would have found another way.”

“Right. You’d have somehow figured out how to rig that fried up piece of
ossa
.”

No, but I would have thought of something. Probably. Maybe. “I can’t help but think you have ulterior motives.”

Carilyn watched me, her gray eyes unmoving in the shadows that had gathered since she’d cut power to the dashboard. Lightning filled the small space in occasional flashes.

I tipped my head. “Be honest with me, or we fuel this bird and I leave you stranded on Kiwidinok.”

“Is that where we were going?”

No. “Yes.” My voice sounded confident. Fantastic.

“How were you going to get in contact with your Family there?”

“Who said I was?”

Carilyn leaned forward enough so I could see more of her face. A light shone from somewhere, but it was faint. “How else were you going to get the Families to sign your treaty?”

“You honestly think the queens are going to honor anything the Families draw up?”

“You heard Queen Nix. She said she was going to fight for your treaty as long as you were fair to the Hands.”

“That’s not what she said.”

The intelligence officer sat back. “I don’t understand you. Wasn’t this what you wanted?”

“Yes.” Oh dear Sky, yes. “But I don’t trust that those four women will honor their word. Dyna sent you here.”

Carilyn raised her chin and turned the shadows of her eyes to Aiyanna.

“I warned you,” the priestess said quietly. “He is not as dim as you both thought.”

“Thank you,” I said. “I think.”

The intelligence officer shook her head and leaned back, resting her elbow on the dashboard. “Okay. Yes. Dyna sent me to help you, find out how to contact the Family, figure out where and how they’re hiding.”

“And you were going to feed that back to Dyna how?”

“The same way I always do.”

I stared at the dials behind her, trying to figure out if there were any particular dials she was protecting.

Then I remembered. Aiyanna had radioed the control dome. I turned toward the priestess, but could see nothing.

“Yes,” Carilyn said. “I go out on missions in the Wanderer all the time, and that is how I stay in touch.”

I raised my head.

“But know this, El’Asim,” she said, her voice dark and filled with threat. “You may destroy that radio, but it’s not the only form of communication I have with the queens. I can get word to them anytime.”

“All the more reason I don’t want you with me.”

“I told you,” Aiyanna said, her scarves jingling in what I assumed was a shake of her head.

“And why are you here again?” I asked, turning toward the priestess. “What does this business about a tower mean?”

The cockpit filled with the sound of the roaring wind that rocked us, and the sheets of rain that poured down on us.

“The Tower means that great change is upon us,” Aiyanna said.

“Great. The queens are going to succeed in gaining more power?”

Bells jingled again. “The Tower lies on your path, not theirs. You will be the one to decide where the change falls, whether it is in war or peace, and who should win either way.”

My ears pulled back. I didn’t believe that for one fleeting moment. How could one person have that much influence and what could cards really say about the future anyway? I’d never understood how the Hands could put so much stock in Tarot. It didn’t make sense.

“I am here to act as your guide, whatever you choose, however you need me. If you decide I am unneeded, then I will honor that choice as well.”

“And what about your allegiances? How are you tied to Dyna?”

“I am a priestess, not a pawn of the queens.”

“I do not wish to be guided by Tarot, or the Hands, or the queens.”

“I understand that. Tarot is not . . . ” The priestess’ voice trailed off. “It is not political. Tarot is simply a conduit of communication between the spirits and teachers and us. Nothing more.”

“Then how did the Hands come to be so tainted?”

Silence was my only answer.

Carilyn raised her hand. “So where—”

Someone pounded on the glass at our feet. Looking down, I saw three men, each with a pistol aimed at us, brandishing torches of blue glowing light that didn’t flicker. They shouted something, but we couldn’t hear them.

I had to find a way to ditch Carilyn.

In the light of the torches beneath us, I saw her narrow her eyes, her chin raised as she stared at me with new recognition.

I’d known since I met her that I needed to wary of her. Now, she recognized that she needed to be wary of me.

That was a good thing.

CHAPTER 8

PEACOCK ROCK

“We are
not going out there.”

I recognized two of the three men. “I wasn’t inviting you to. Wait out the storm. Fly out in the morning.” I rose from the chair, giving the men below a wave I didn’t know if they could see.

Aiyanna put her hand on my arm as I walked by. “Synn—”

“Look, priestess, I have no agenda with your gods or spirits or whatever. I don’t want to work for the queens, and I certainly don’t have a higher purpose. I just want what’s best for the people.”

I couldn’t see her eyes, but I felt her gaze. “I know.” She stood. “That’s why I’m going with you.”