Fall of Sky City (A Steampunk Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Novel) (Devices of War) (21 page)

Ryo went through Joshua’s plane, talking quietly to Keeley, and assessed how much needed to be transported.

“Where’s your
lethara
?” I asked.

He gave me a brief nod. “You’ll see.”

I watched the sands shift. Was he being guarded for a reason?

He crossed his arms over his chest, his voice thick with disapproval. “You wear the uniform of the Hands.”

I fingered my vest, fighting the shake of my hand as it pulsed to the beat in my skull. “It’s the only clothes I have.”

His expression was immobile.

I took a step closer, tipping my head, my stance loose. “I was actually looking forward to seeing the
Yusrra Samma
so I could get some real clothes.”

“What else did they do to you?”

Fear fluttered in the back of my mind. Would they turn me away if they knew? Would I be stranded here on my own? Would I be forced to return to the Hands? To her? “Nothing. I might have learned a few things, but I’m still me.”

He nodded, his cheekbones drawn, a frown marring his forehead. “Ino.”

I shook my head, confused. “El’Asim.”

“With the Mark of Ino.”

Oh. I shrugged. “Not quite, but we all knew it was possible.”

He took a step closer so we were nose to nose.

I didn’t back away. I wasn’t sure what was going on. What was he trying to prove? What did he want?

His gaze penetrated mine. “You look like Father, act like him.”

Where was he going with this? “And you like Mother.”

“So how do you bear the Mark of our Family?”

The same way he did. “Ino blood runs through my veins.”

He was silent for a long moment. “Can I trust you, Synn?”

My lips flattened. I wanted to tell him yes. I wanted to be brought back in, to be free, to fly the skies, but i had to be honest. I couldn’t lie, not to my brother. I ducked my head. “No.”

He watched me without saying a word.

“I’m compulsed, Ryo.” I swallowed and raised my chin, dread filling me. He could leave me here. He should. “Nix is trying to get me back. It’s taking everything I have to resist.”

“You didn’t seem to have too much trouble just now.”

“They were attacking. It’s easier to talk myself out of trying to go with them when they’re trying to kill me.”

He glanced at my bare arms. “Let me see your Mark. The entire Mark.”

I winced, ground my teeth and removed my vest.

He frowned at my chest and arms. His head twisted on his neck to see my back.

I felt like a prize war trophy.

He stared at me. “She’s not going to let you go easily.”

“No.” I slipped my vest back on. “She’s not.”

He relaxed and took a step back. “Well, we’re going to take you into custody. Thank you for being honest.”

I nodded with relief.

“That makes this a whole lot easier.” He raised his gun and smashed the butt of it against my head.

* * *

I woke to quiet and cool, lying on a hard, cold floor. Gentle sounds of bubbles wafted through the air. I blinked my eyes open. My head was pounding. I picked myself off the floor slowly. Movement made my throbbing head scream. Dear Sky Mother! Why did people think they had to hit me over the head all the time? I was sure there’d be brain damage eventually.

I was in a room I’d never seen. The opaque walls moved. I could see flickers of sunlight through water. What? I walked closer to the wall and reached out, touching it with hesitant hands.

The wall flinched and shied away. A current thrummed through my arm as a splash of yellow light spasmed across the wall, turning into green.

I returned my attention to the room, massaging the feeling back into my hand. The floor was black tile. The pillows thrown along the outer edge were turquoise and lavender. A trunk dominated the far corner, veins of effervescent light running along it’s pulsing length.

I was in a
lethara
. I didn’t know they could submerge. It made sense though. No wonder they were hard to find. When they were in danger, they could just sink. That left me with other questions. How was there enough air to breathe? Granted, a
lethara
was huge. They were able to house entire cities within their trunks. How long could one of them stay underneath the water before needing to surface?

Why was I down here? How had I gotten here? Had they knocked me out so I wouldn’t try to escape, or so that I couldn’t tell where they were if I managed to get myself caught? The outer skin as it rippled before me.

Somewhere in the darker depths of the ocean, something large and slow appeared, and it was coming right up to us. I’d never seen anything like it. It looked like…well, like a cow almost, with two very large flat arms. Its mouth opened and I took a startled step back. The thing could eat an airship in one large gulp. Holy Father of Sky!

Knowing that I was a security risk, I decided to wait. It was respectful and I’d been taught to respect my elders and my mother’s people since I was small. But also, I just wanted to be free. I closed my eyes and shook my head. I really just wanted to be free.

The door opened and closed.

I turned. My mother stood on the other side of the room. She was short and round, and wore a summer dress that swirled effortlessly around her ankles. She loved the color turquoise, and it went well with her salted black hair and dark, slanted eyes. She didn’t move toward me. I didn’t move toward her.

She took in a deep, steadying breath and approached.

I met her in the middle.

Her blinking gaze traveled over me.

I kept silent, waiting until she spoke first.

She reached out a tentative hand, touching the scar over my right eye. “I heard about Kadar,” she said in my language, a sign of respect. “I am sorry.”

I hadn’t expected the look of sorrow in her eyes. My heart wrenched, remembering he was no longer there. Through the last several months, it had been easy to ignore that fact. But now, I was coming home, which meant I would be reminded of why he wasn’t there.

I choked back the grief that threatened to overwhelm me.

She did something she’d never done since I could remember. She hugged me.

I didn’t know what to do for a moment, but then my arms encircled her.

She didn’t let me go, her cheek resting on my shoulder. There was a growing wet spot under her cheek.

I took a step closer and held her tighter.

She finally pulled away and wiped at her eyes. “I loved your father, Synn.”

Who was this woman? Did I dare trust her? “He loved you, too.”

She grabbed my hands. “Are you all right?”

I shook my head and shrugged.

“Really.” Her dark eyes pierced mine. “How are you?”

I opened my mouth to tell her I was okay, but there was something in her eyes. For the first time in my life, she looked at me like I had some worth, like I was her son. I didn’t know what to do.

She nodded and took a step back. “Let me see.”

I frowned at her, but knew what she was talking about. Everyone wanted to see it. I sighed and wondered, not for the first time, if I would ever be anything more than a powerful Mark.

She raised an eyebrow and dropped my hand.

I refrained from rolling my eyes, which took extreme effort, and removed my vest.

Her eyes trailed over my Mark, along my chest and arms. She walked around to the back. “Call your Mark.”

“I don’t really have control of it yet.” I glanced at the skin of the
lethara
. “I don’t know what kind of damage I can do.”

“Do you have any idea why we chose the
lethara
to live within?” she asked, stepping into my view.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

She smiled, shaking out her arms, her Mark dancing with rising lines of pale blue light. She reached up with her hand and the light touched the skin. The
lethara
shivered, but otherwise didn’t react. Or blow up or melt.

I stared at it in amazement.

She took a step back, her Mark still activated, and gestured with her hand. “Call your Mark.”

I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes. Anger, hate, hurt. The words themselves meant nothing. They were just letters and sounds. I saw my father’s face. He should be here, teaching me how to use my Mark. Nothing.

Nix. Anger churned in my chest. I’d escaped and she still had me chained to her, doing her bidding, under her command.

Lava leapt from my chest, flowing around me in lightning whips, flashing sporadically, touching the walls, the ceiling, the floor. The runes on my arms shot from me in zapping strikes.

She nodded with approval. “Bring them over here.”

I was starting to sweat. My power was out of control. It took everything I had not to hit her with the lava strikes.

Her Mark blocked mine with well-practiced ease. “Slowly.”

I nodded, ground my teeth and reined it back in. It jerked back. I let out a frustrated sigh and pushed it slowly. It lurched forward again, lashing out at her.

She blocked, saying nothing.

I raised my arms, the Mark rising from them in quieter waves of golden lightning fire. With my hands as guides, I coaxed the whips to dance quietly closer to my mother without trying to kill her.

She smiled and pulled her Mark back.

I took that as a sign to do the same. I tried to cool the heat in my heart, but failed to bring my Mark back to my body. I reached up with my right hand and tapped my chest. I don’t know why, but it worked. The flames settled into my flesh. The Marks on my arms almost touched my wrists, and the runes on my chest were now sweeping into my navel.

“Very impressive.” Mother walked toward me, her smile proud, her eyes searching. “Are you Ino?”

I shook my head. “I am El’Asim. I have always been.”

Disappointment rippled over her, but she didn’t vocalize it. She looked up at me through her dark lashes. “Are you truly El’Asim?”

I didn’t understand the question. I just told her I was.

“You are not a Hand?”

“They tried to make me one,” I said softly. “I don’t think I am.”

“Ryo says you are compulsed.”

Shame filled me. “It would seem so.”

“What does that mean,
musuko, segare
?” She’d never called me her son before. She reached out a hand and put it on my arm, her expression open.

I searched for any signs of repulsion or disgust and saw none. “I want to be free.”

She nodded.

“But—” I took in a deep breath. “When we were escaping, I was hit with a mind splitting headache and the only thing—” I swallowed, waiting for her reaction, “—I could think about, that would help my head, was the thought of going back.”

“Back to Sky City?”

I licked my lips and dropped her gaze.

She nodded. “Who?”

“Nix.” My voice was barely a whisper.

She was quiet for a long moment. “What did she do to you?”

I shook my head, my gaze lowered. That was not something I was willing to talk about, at least not to my mother.

Her lips flattened as she took a step back. “We can help you with your compulsion.”

I put my vest back on.

“But you’re going to have to talk to someone about what she did to you.”

I flinched.

“It’s the only way to overcome the compulsion in and of itself. You do want to be free, don’t you?”

I nodded with conviction. “I need to be my own man again.”

She looked at me expectantly. “And we need you on our side as a whole man.” She wasn’t looking at me. She stared at the Mark peaking over the V in my vest and down my arms.

“I don’t know how to use it.”

She met my gaze. “You are with the Ino.”

I swallowed. Did that mean I was safe, or another prisoner?

She smiled a sad smile. “We will teach you. I see you brought friends.”

“They helped.” I walked toward the skin of the
lethara
. “I hope you will allow them the safety of your home.”

She nodded. “Who are they?”

“Victims of Tarot.” I clasped my hands behind my back and stared into the ocean. “Keeley and Joshua are of the Bahrain Family. They watched their family buried alive.”

Interest flickered across her expression as she joined me.

I needed to learn a bit more about them if their names alone had drawn Mother’s attention. I watched her from the corner of my eye. “I don’t know Yvette’s story. Queen Dyna had her spying on us in the laboratory.”

“And yet you trust her.”

“She was honest about it,” I said simply. “If she really wanted to be a spy, we wouldn’t have known.”

“It could be that she’s very cunning.”

I raised my eyebrows with a chuckle. “Oh, she is.”

“What else do you know about her?” Mother’s were keen and calculating.

“She’s from the Leblanc Family, but that’s all I know.”

Mother turned to me, her hands clasped in front of her. “Each of them saw their family murdered before their eyes. That’s how the Hands were able to pull such strong Marks from the surviving children.”

“Joshua did say they all had to be Marked in order to be kept.”

Mother turned a sad sigh to the outer wall. “They extract those Marks at a high price.”

I remembered mine. I couldn’t argue with that.

She ran her hand along my arm and took a step away. “We’ll get you real clothes.”

I smiled with relief. “Thank you.”

“And then,” she said with a smile edged with steel, “we begin your training.”

Hopefully, I’d begin the journey of reclaiming my old self. I was ready.

CHAPTER 19