Fall of Sky City (A Steampunk Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Novel) (Devices of War) (22 page)

WHO WILL STAND AGAINST THEM?

Mother
left me with a servant who led me down a long, ornate hall that lacked windows. There were, however, wide arched doorways on either side. The floor was the same black tile as the other room I’d been in.

Finally, she stopped at a door and opened it.

I paused before entering. “Where are my friends?” I asked in their native language, Sakin.

She smiled and ducked her head, clasping her hands in front of her, her black, shoulder length hair falling over her face. “They are in the rooms surrounding yours, Synn
shu
.”

I’d never been addressed as a lord in the Ino territory before. “Are we on lockdown?”

Am I trapped again, so far away from my queen?

I ground my teeth and pushed that thought away. I would be free of her. I had to be.

“You are welcome to travel anywhere amongst our city, Synn
shu
, but we will be pleased to offer escort as guides and protection.”

I nodded. “Then are we prisoners or guests?”

Ryo came up to me, walking on silent feet, and clasped my shoulder with a grin under his thin mustache. “You do not know the ways of our city, or of the
lethara
when we are underwater. You are guests and Family, and we are honored to have you here.”

I searched his face, but saw nothing more than honesty and maybe a little fear hidden deep in his eyes. I nodded and walked into the room.

“Is there anything else I can do for you, Synn
shu
?”

“He needs a bath,” Ryo said with a good natured grin to the young lady. “You stink.”

I chucked my chin at him. “You try surviving what I have in the last few days and smell pretty while doing it.”

The girl bowed and closed the door.

Ryo pulled my pistol out of his belt. “So, what can you tell me about this?”

I looked around the room. There was a comfortable bed along one wall. A small chest and a large desk sat in front of a wide window that took up nearly the entire far wall. Everything was done in hues of blues and greens. Mother’s colors. The room was lit by tear dropped glowing globes sporadically scattered across several tables. “Joshua and I designed it to work with my Mark.”

“Can I try?”

I shrugged and headed toward the chest. “Just try not to kill me.”

He held the pistol in his hand and pulled the trigger. There was a wet plop and lava glumped onto the floor where it hissed and cooled into a scorched patch.

We both stared at it.

He laughed and tossed it to me. “Well, it was obviously made for you, so you keep it.”

I caught it with a little fumbling. “We could probably make one for you, too. We may just have to modify it slightly.”

“What’s the ammunition?”

“Technically, it’s our Marks, but there is a catalyst that’s needed. I don’t know exactly what it is that Joshua added to start the firing sequence, but it’s a naturally derived chemical reaction that is reproduced every time you use the thing, so once it’s activated, in theory, it can never really run out.”

“Does it tire you?”

I flared my eyes and tested the bed with my fingertips. “When you’re trying to take out an entire fleet of planes while fleeing, and then immediately try to fend off some demented pincher bugs intent on killing you? Especially when there are hundreds of them and only one of you and your pistol?” I nodded. “Oh yeah. It knocked me out for a couple of days.”

A man walked in, his back straight, his chin high. “Synn
shu
, your bath is ready.”

I opened the chest. Lovely Sky Mother! Real clothes, not uniforms that defined me as a what, but clothes that allowed me to be a who. I grabbed a set and followed the man down the hall.

The bathing room was located close to our rooms and was immense. Pale blue tile reflected the sparkles of the water in the false light created by something in the walls. I was sure Joshua would be checking those out as soon as he could, but I was interested in the water. I really did stink.

After I thanked him, the man left. Towels were on the bench, soap along the far ledge, warm water in the first tub. The second tub was hotter and meant for soaking. Perfect. I wasn’t sure what had to be prepared. It appeared as though the pools could seat at least ten people comfortably. Interesting.

I tore off my uniform and dumped the clothes on the floor. I thought about setting them on fire, but I had a lot to learn about control, so I opted not to.

The Mark on my right arm lifted with the thought of incinerating my clothing, but sighed back into place.

Ryo stared at my Mark with fascinated horror.

I pretended not to notice and entered the bath, sinking into it, allowing the hot water to wash over my head. I grabbed the soap.

He stripped and joined me, draping his arms along the edge of the large pool.

I scrubbed with the loofah until my brown skin turned pink. When I was done, I rinsed and climbed out, heading to the soaking pool.

Ryo joined me, his wet feet making little sound compared to my slap-slap-slapping.

I sank into the water, the jets beating my back, and draped my arms along the edge, my long hair starting to curl. The water was a little cool for my taste. With a thought, heat radiated from me, warming the waters. Steam rolled off the surface in waves.

“Are you here to claim head of Ino?”

I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the water. “Ryo, I’m El’Asim.”

“I see your Mark, Synn. You’re Ino.”

I didn’t say anything for a long time. “Do you have any idea how to command an airship, how to keep it safe?” I opened my eyes.

He shook his head. His topknot gleamed blue in the false light.

“I don’t know how to live on a
lethara
. Mark or no, I’m not Ino. I wasn’t raised here. I didn’t even intern here. You at least interned on the
Yusrra Samma
.”

“Then why are you here, Synn?”

“Honestly?” I shook my head and looked away, my forehead starting to hurt from all the frowning. I hadn’t even been aware I was doing it. “I’m just trying to get away, to escape.”

“The Hands?”

I nodded.

“What was it like? Sky City.”

I let my head fall back on the ledge and stared up at the blue ceiling as it twinkled in the water lights. “It was…oddly amazing.”

He tipped his head.

“They have technologies we’d never think to use. They burn energies that don’t reproduce themselves. They have machines called automobiles, which are carts on wheels that power themselves. They use them to drive through their city, which is pretty immense. They have rows upon rows of warehouses that are actually laboratories. That’s where their greatest minds are placed, and they give them any materials they want.”

“For what?”

I shrugged. “To invent stuff. You should have seen some of the things they were working on. Some of it was pretty neat.”

“You sound like you miss it.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I may miss that part. It was nice knowing that I could think up something, like a pistol that works with your Mark, and just know that whatever crazy idea you dreamt up, they would give you the materials within a day or two.”

“Anything else you miss?”

I was about to say no, but stopped myself with a smile. “Their telescope. They had an immense scope that took up an entire building, and you could study the stars even with the suns in the sky. Well, only one sun at a time.” I shook my head in wonder. “We were working to map out what they called a solar system. It was theorized that Kel’mar is not our moon, but that we are its moon.”

He rubbed his eyebrow, watching me.

I waved off the thought. “It was amazing to have the time to sit around and theorize things that—” I smashed my lips in thought. “Well, I guess, they have no practical purpose. To study the stars? To map out how our suns rotate around each other, that our planet rotates around Kala, and that we rotate around our planet, and that that defines our calendars, our years, our turns?” I looked up at the ceiling. “It was amazing.”

“They have a lot of power and money.”

“Oh, yes they do.” I pursed my lips. “But you have no freedoms. They have these floating machines that scan your face. I sometimes think they listened to conversations, too. There were times I’d meet Nix, and she knew things that were said when no one else was around.”

“What is she like?”

“Controlling, manipulative, deceitful. And those are her good qualities.”

He grinned. “I hear you shared her bed.”

My entire body tensed.

His eyes narrowed, his smile slipping.

I forced myself to relax. “She was in my bed, but we did not share it.”

His gaze turned to the water. “I hear she has ways of breaking a man.”

I said nothing.

He looked up at me, his chin low. “You escaped.”

Blinking, I met his gaze. “I did.”

“Do you feel better for having done so?”

My eyes were distant, staring at the far wall and seeing only her manipulative, conniving face. “Sometimes. I’ll be happier to be completely free of her.”

“When do you think that will happen?”

“I have no idea,” I whispered. “So much has changed.”

He nodded.

Reality punched its way into my chest. I was safe. I was no longer fighting, didn’t have to push it away. I had time to deal with it. “Father’s really gone.”

“You saw him die.”

“I did.” I closed my eyes as they started to tear, and opened them, looking away. “I tried telling myself that it hadn’t really happened. After all, I couldn’t really step out of the fire they set on me. I was supposed to have died with him. Why didn’t I? How could I have survived and not tried to save him?”

“You can’t blame yourself, Synn.”

I ran a hand over my face. “He was a better man than I.”

“He had a longer time to become that man.”

I sent him a ghost of a smile. “How do I return to the
Yusrra Samma
and replace him?”

Ryo didn’t have any words of wisdom for me.

“They’re going to expect it, you know. They may have found a temporary replacement, probably Isra, but they won’t follow her forever. They need me to step up and lead them.”

“You don’t think you’re ready.”

“A leader’s every action has consequences on the people he leads.” I choked on a thought I’d never had the nerve to fully acknowledge. “I’m the reason Father was killed.”

Ryo frowned, leaning forward slightly. “Surely not.”

I nodded and continued in a stronger voice. “They were setting fire to the Umira Family.” I swallowed, remembering the smell of their burning flesh, the sound of the sea flax popping and cracking, the sight of their pain even as they fought to remain quiet…for their children. “I was witnessing their surviving children watch.” The images flashed through my mind. “I drew my sword.”

He shook his head and sank back to the wall. “So what?”

I closed my eyes, replaying those events in my mind. “I broke the treaty.”

“The unsigned treaty that the Hands themselves break constantly?”

“I drew steel under the flag of truce, and because of that, the El’Asim, one of the greatest Families left, is without a leader and for what? Were the Umira avenged? Did it help them at all? Were their children spared?”

He was silent for a long moment. “Synn, you’re not thinking straight. The El’Asim are fine. Isra is doing a good job in leading them. They’ve stayed out of sight of the Hands since you and your father went to them under the flag of truce. Word has spread even to the lesser families currently under the rule of the Hands.”

“Word of what?” I spat.

“Of the Hand’s treachery.”

“And who cares?” I let my hand splash back into the water. “Who’s going to do anything about it? Who will stand against them?”

Ryo pried himself off the wall. “We will.”

I leaned forward. “They have better weapons. Their ammunitions will tear right through our airships. Their air vessels, all of them – their boats and planes – are made of metal. What do we have that could damage that?”

His dark eyes lightened and he leaned in closer. “Your pistol.”

“We’re going to need a lot more than one pistol.”

He nodded. “But it melts through their metal as if it were the skin of a
lethara
to their bullets. We could even the playing field.”

I let that thought sink in, and then another jolted me to the present. “Wait. Their bullets to the skin of a
lethara
?”

“Yeah,” Ryo said, sitting back slightly, gauging my reaction. “They’ve started targeting the
letharan
. Without them, many people have no place to live. So far, nothing drastic. The
letharan
have been damaged, but are otherwise fine. The Hands have lost all concern for the well-being of anyone or anything other than themselves.”

And where would they stop? If it were up to Nix, they wouldn’t stop until the world lay at her feet. We had to do something.

“We need to talk to Joshua. He knows the design of the pistol better than I do. He’s really the brains of the operation, anyway.”

“I figured someone had to be,” Ryo said with a grin as he lay back, draping his arms over the rim again. “I knew it couldn’t be you. So tell me about Yvette,” he said, his eyes crinkling.

I chuckled, but my mind was already elsewhere.

Could we launch a revolt?

No. The real question was if we could launch a
successful
revolt. And what would be the price? Would it be worth it?

I recalled my stay in the Hands’ care.

There wasn’t much I’d
not
be willing to pay, but I knew that Nix would extract a hefty sum if we failed.

We just had to make sure we didn’t fail.

CHAPTER 20