Fall of Sky City (A Steampunk Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Novel) (Devices of War) (25 page)

Yvette took the chair next to Haji, so many questions in her eyes.

I had a few of my own, but I’d sat in a few council sessions with my father, so I knew the rules. I might have a voice, but that didn’t mean I was allowed to use it before the head of the circle gave me permission to speak.

“We have many Families with us. Which language should we speak so that all can understand?” Mother’s gaze pierced everyone.

“We can speak whichever language,” Haji said in Sakin, “that you deem worthy of this conversation.”

Mother opened her mouth to speak.

I cleared my throat, glancing over at Keeley. She seemed completely lost.

Mother stopped and turned to me with an exaggerated look of expectation.

I licked my lips. That woman knew how to make me feel small. “Keeley Bahrain has lived her entire life with the Hands and speaks only one language well. Handish.”

Mother’s lips flinched.

There was a stirring amongst the circle.

Finally, Mother raised her chin and continued in Handish, “Head of Bahrain, it would do you well to learn a language other than that of our enemies.”

Keeley flushed and bowed her head, her fingers fidgeting with the silk of her robe.

“Ino Nami,” Sabine said, dragging her eyes off her daughter and bringing them to the head of the circle.

Mother nodded gravely and gestured to her.

Sabine rose to her feet once again. “Some of you might have heard by now that one of the
letharan
cities was attacked today. They were known to give us safe harbor. Somehow the Hands discovered this.”

We silently bit our tongues, waiting for her to tell her story.

“We were sharing festival with the Delfins.”

Mother flinched. “They were a peaceful people. The Hands knew this. Surely.”

Sabine nodded. “Perhaps. The Knight of Wands, Varik Primus, stopped by the festival in search of Synn Primus.”

I shook my head. “I was never a Primus,
Madame
Leblanc. I have always been and shall always be El’Asim.”

Her eyes narrowed, her chin tipped down. “When he could not find you in the city, he decided to send you a message.”

“By destroying a
lethara
and his entire city?” the man with the silver pointed beard demanded.

Sabine nodded gracefully, steepling her fingers in front of her. “He told us that anyone who survived was to spread the word. No one was to provide safe harbor to Synn Primus, or they would be treated similarly.”

“He’s willing to destroy an entire city?” Keeley whispered, her green eyes sinking to the floor. “A city is so large. A
lethara
is so alive, a living being. And all the people who would live among one?”

Mother nodded, a sheen of recognition in her eyes. “You have learned much in your one short day here, Miss Bahrain.” She returned her attention to Sabine. “What more can you tell us? How many survivors?”

“Maybe one quarter? We tried, Nami, but there were so many and we are so few.”

“Their Mark could not help them?” one of the elders asked. I didn’t see who it was.

“They are a lesser Family,” Sabine said. “Their Mark is rarely born and is no help in the waters.”

I sighed. Great. One more thing I could feel guilty about. How great would be the cost of my freedom? Should I remain in the wild? Away from Nix? Away from Varik? Should I just surrender?

Yes. Come back to me.

Mother watched me carefully.

I swallowed and banished the voice in my head.

She gestured for Sabine to regain her seat and motioned to the rest of us to ask our questions.

The man with the silver pointed beard stood. “What weapons did he use?”

Sabine frowned, shaking her head. “There were multiple explosions. I do not know what he used. He had a button in his hand, and he simply pressed it.”

Joshua cursed behind me.

I twisted around in my chair. “When did you get here?” I asked.

Ryo stood at Mother’s right hand.

“Just now,” he hissed back and stepped inside the circle. “If I may, Ino Nami?” he asked with a bow.

Mother nodded.

“Wha’ did the explosions sound like?”

Sabine shook her head, turning toward him, her hands spread. “Like explosions.”

“Were they pop-pop-pop-pop, or were they more like major booms?”

“There was popping and then a boom.”

“An’ the button in his hand,” Joshua pressed, “did i’ blink with a red light?”

She nodded. “It did.”

“An’ were there large plumes of purple smoke?”

Again, she nodded.

Joshua’s face fell in devastation. “I know wha’ he used, and we need to talk ta the
lethara
righ’ away, make sure that he does no’ drift in this tide.”

“Why is that?” Mother demanded.

“Because,” Joshua said, already leaving the circle. “Varik knew we were here an’ his real target was this
lethara
.”

Keeley’s eyes closed.

“The tide will be filled with poison. We need to get ‘im out of it now.”

CHAPTER 22

KEEP YOUR DOUBT, YOUR FEAR

People
scrambled as orders were issued. My ears started to pop viciously. We were dropping in depth. I looked at my mother with concern. I had no idea if we were going to survive in the deep waters should something go wrong.

She reached over and covered my hand with hers, the gesture soft and so unlike the woman I’d known all my life. She looked to a man in a dark blue uniform. “Are we at a safer depth?”

“We are, Nami
shu
.”

She nodded, her chin high, her hand tightening around mine minutely. “Assess the waters and the damage. Young Bahrain, you are the oldest, are you not?”

Joshua turned to her and nodded. “I am, Ino Nami, but I am no’ fit to lead. I will attend to your
lethara
in any way I can. However, I will need Keeley as quickly as ye can spare ‘er. She has more knowledge of this compound than I do.”

Mother raised an eyebrow, a half smile on her face, similar to a look she gave Oki when she back-talked. “Then perhaps you should switch places?”

Keeley’s expression opened with hope.

Joshua’s eyes widened in alarm as he bowed. “I would beg tha’ we no’, Ino Nami, with the deepest of respect.”

“I will not acquiesce this request.” Her expression was that of a smug mother teaching her young a valuable lesson. “Miss Keeley, if you would please assist our
lethara
in any way possible?”

Keeley leapt to her feet and followed the man in uniform.

“Mr. Bahrain.” The gesture to Keeley’s now vacant chair was a command.

He rolled his eyes and let out a long sigh of defeat. “Joshua.” He took his seat. “Why does she ge’ ta be Miss Keeley and I’m Mr. Bahrain?”

“Joshua
shu
,” Mother said, both polite and authoritative at the same time.

We stayed there for hours, discussing the details of the attack and the reasons behind it. However, without Keeley there, we completed our conversation in Sakin. Joshua was…fairly good at it. Well, he was able to get the gist of everything that was said. He just had a terrible time speaking.

“Why doesn’t Synn just surrender?” one of the younger council members asked, standing up. “Why should the rest of us suffer while the Hands try to get him back? What makes him so special?”

I had no answer for that. I was beginning to think the same thing. But was that reason, or was it the voice, my compulsion?

Mother looked to me to defend myself.

I rose and cleared my throat. “I might turn myself in. I had thought I could do more good out here. There is a chance that if I remain in Nix’s care, I might become a weapon for the Hands, not a tool for the betterment of the world. I have no wish to condemn others to die so that I might hide. In doing so, I help no one, certainly not myself.”

The man sat down, unnerved.

That wasn’t my intent. I honestly had no idea what I should do. “We, as leaders of our Families, have a huge responsibility. We are responsible for the life and safety of our Family members. Our actions—all of them, big and small—have great impact on the world around us.”

The man with the silvered pointed beard rose to his feet. “I hear your words, young El’Asim. You have truly aged since last we met.”

I bowed my head. “I have learned much.”

Joshua stood. “Bu’ we have also learned much about the Hands.” He took my shoulder and pushed me back in my seat. “Attack we must them.”

Mother raised her hand. “You may speak Handish. It hurts trying to understand what you’re saying.”

Joshua let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I mean no disrespect.” He turned back to the circle. “We know tha’ their ships are made of metal.”

“And our weapons cannot breach their hulls,” someone shouted.

The silver bearded man sank into his chair, listening intently.

“Because you do no’ know where ta strike.” Joshua paused, a smirk on his lips. “I do. We can teach you.”

“Also,” Ryo said, taking a step forward, glancing to our mother for permission. After her nod, he continued. “There is a weapon we might be able to create that would give us a slight advantage.”

“What weapon are you speaking of, Ryo
shu
?” the man wearing the tall black hat asked. “And why have we not heard of this before?”

“Because it has not been invented before,” Ryo said and took a step back, gesturing to Joshua.

He nodded. “Synn and I developed a weapon tha’ uses his Mark as the ammunition.”

The council murmured.

“His Mark is fire,” a woman said somewhere to my right.

“Nearly,” Mother said. “It is different, which is why I think I did not see it at first. It is lightning and fire, and it mimics lava.”

Everyone turned to their neighbor and whispered.

Everyone except for the man with the pointed beard. His eagle eye did not leave Mother.

“We knew this might happen,” she said, calming the voices of the council. “That our Marks might blend, that a new Family might be born. This is how the Great Families of Bahrain and El’Asim were created.”

I stared at her.

“It’ll take a bit of research and trial an’ error, some minor experimentation,” Joshua continued, his hands flopping with each word, “but I think we can modify the basic design to accommodate yer Mark.”

“What are you saying?” the pointed beard man asked.

“I’m saying tha’ I can give ye a weapon tha’ uses your Mark, fire, as a weapon, an’ I can teach ye where to use it to disable their ships.” Joshua turned, staring at each member of the council in turn. “I know how ta take down the air boats, the bi-planes, their queen ships. I know how ta take out their submersibles.”

Mother straightened, her eyes landing on me, filled with quiet alarm. “Submersibles?”

He turned to her and nodded. “Yes. They ‘ave boats under the water.”

The council members stirred, whispering to one another, keeping their eyes on Joshua.

“I can even show ye how ta find ‘em. We can build you a radar with possible underwater applications tha’ will tell us exactly where they are.”

“You can do this?” the woman with the nasally voice asked.

“We’ll need materials.” Joshua turned back to Mother. “Materials tha’ you don’t have.”

“What do you need?” she asked carefully.

He took in a deep breath. “They’ll be difficult to obtain. I have enough ta ge’ started an’ ta make the tool fer this, but we need a type of metal compound tha’ ye do not use. They do. They mine it an’ then alter it.”

“How much of this will we need?” the bearded man asked, remaining in his seat.

Joshua shrugged. “Until we know exactly wha’ we intend to do, I can’t say. But if we find one of their submersibles and disable it, we could remove the boilers. We can melt ‘em down an’ tha’ should give us enough raw materials for whatever we might need.”

“And what kind of casualties can we expect?”

Joshua paused, his head tipped, and glanced at me.

I stood. “We don’t know. We are not practiced at underwater combat. However, we do know how to disable the boat.”

“And if ye’re not carrying anythin’ big or metal, you can sneak up on the thing practically undetected. They do use sonar, however, which is somethin’ I’ve been playin’ around with and never quite mastered. Damn Browning an’ his blasted—”

I cleared my throat and raised my eyebrows.

He nodded. “Right. Quite right. Anyway, I can use the same principles of radar to create somethin’ similar to sonar, but more exact.”

“Exact is good,” Mother said. “We are well versed in underwater battles and maneuvers.” She nodded to Sabine. “They will have no metal parts on them.”

Joshua nodded. “Then it’ll just be a matter of getting’ onboard and removing the boilers.”

“Which we should be able to do,” I said.

He nodded and turned back to the council. “I understand tha’ the casualties have been severe. They’ve destroyed only the one city so far. Who knows how much further they’ll take it. Right now, we know tha’ only one man is in pursuit after one other man.” He shook head. “Tha’s not so terrible. Is it?”