Fall of Sky City (A Steampunk Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Novel) (Devices of War) (36 page)

The guards had fallen back in fear. Most of them were halfway across their bridges.

Varik just kept screaming.

I couldn’t take it anymore. The power of my lava wasn’t dying on his skin. Something about him seemed to keep it alive. I released the power of the cloud, the fat drops landing on him with hisses.

The city was almost quiet. There didn’t seem to be any more footsteps from the platform above me. I could still hear voices far below. I let out a sigh of relief.

Varik’s screams quieted and he laid still.

I walked up to him, the cloud still pouring around us, sizzling in the air, my footsteps splashing in deep puddles.

He was a mess. His skin was black in spots where the lava had hit him and in lines where his own Mark had backfired. His grey eyes stared up at me, as steam rose from and around him. He was irate.

I kept the calm within my mind, the fury rushing through my chest. “She’s not my queen, Varik. She’s yours.”

Contempt rippled across his ravaged face as he reached into his pocket.

The button! I rushed him, a chill running through me.

But before I could get to him, he pulled something silver and cylindrical out of his pocket.

I stopped, my Mark ready to launch.

A cold smile slithered across his lips. “I win this time, Primus.”

I ground my jaw, trying to calculate how fast I could knock the remote from his hand. Not fast enough. “I’m no Primus.” I could only hope that I’d bought enough time to save most everyone.

“Yes.” He raised the remote, his thumb hovering over the end of the device. “You are, more than you know.” His thumb mashed down on the button.

Explosions sounded all around us.

I shook my head, taking two running steps backward as the world tilted and shifted. “Stop searching for me, Varik.”

He watched me retreat. “Never,” he ground out.

Shrapnel flew all around me, my Marks flinging bits of glass and sharpened flax away from me. I was being hit pretty hard.

I flung one last look at Varik, the platform directly overhead threatening to give as one of the supporting trunks squirmed in the air. He was gone, the guards carrying him away, headed toward the docks.

Dirt. I could have killed him. I really could have.

So why hadn’t I?

CHAPTER 32

NICELY PLAYED

With the
city cleared, it was at least a little easier to get to the docks, even with the platforms and buildings falling down around me. My experience aboard a fleet of airships proved very handy as I launched myself from one platform to another. The rope bridges were too unstable as the platforms danced and shifted. I tucked, rolled and kept moving to the next, my Marks flicking the debris away from me with almost a mind of their own. I was hit in more places than I cared to admit, but I didn’t have time to think about it.

When I got to the docks, I realized we were still in trouble. There was still a lot of citizens, several being thrown off as the ships released their moorings to rise into the air.

There was a loud commotion at the longer docks. People were pushed into the waters as the guards cleared a path to the airboat hovering at the end of the longest dock. Varik, or at least what was left of him, must have arrived.

The
letharan
were sinking. I breathed a sigh of relief even as my heart skipped a beat. They were trying to find deeper waters, and a different current. That was a good thing.

That I might be left alone in the middle of a poisoned ocean was another story.

Having made it to the docks and the other people, I pulled my Marks back to my body. No one was paying attention as I pushed myself into the press. I was stuck. People were practically pushing themselves into me, trying to claw around each other, vying for a spot on a boat.

I looked up at the
lethara
of Egolda City. His tentacles and trunks were writhing, his medusa fluttering as though he were screaming. Watching the city fall tore at me, but watching the
lethara
blown to pieces and poisoned as he tried to protect his people when there was nothing I could do to help was a whole other matter. I regretted my nonchalant answer to Varik when he said he’d blow up the city.

And then the question became a reality.

Was
I being selfish to continue to evade him and Nix?

Egolda’s
lethara
was doing what he could to protect his people. He was trying to buy them time, but he was losing ground. More bombs sounded and more platforms came raining down on us, his limbs still attached.

My Mark whipped over our heads, protecting us from the larger chunks of shrapnel and debris.

The people around me noticed that, and I suddenly found myself standing alone, with as wide a berth as the docks would allow. Some people even jumped into the ocean to escape me.

Well, at least it made a little space to work.

I searched the docks for my
lethara
and found him. He was still docked, the town almost fully encapsulated within his medusa, taking as many passengers as he could. If I couldn’t get there soon, he would run out of time and risk being poisoned.

My eyes searched the water for a sign that the poison was visible. It was.

That was when I saw her, Yvette, her black hair shining in the flare of the fires around us as her head rose from the water. “Synn,” she shouted, baring a set of razor sharp teeth. “Get in!”

I nodded and pushed my way to the edge of the dock. People fell out of my way. “Stay out of the red water!”

“Do I
look
stupid to you? Hurry up!”

I leapt, bringing my Mark in close to my body. It wasn’t needed underwater and I didn’t want to hurt Yvette as she tried to rescue me. The water closed over my head and rushed up my nose. I bobbed back up, taking in one last breath.

“Please, Primus, my baby!”

Chill on top of chill swept over me.

Yvette’s arms grabbed me as she surged through the water.

I pushed back, my hair billowing out as she stopped, turning to me with a confused frown. I surfaced again, waiting for her to follow. “We have to save as many as we can.”

She sent me a disgruntled look, her violet eyes going distant.

And then we were joined by several others of the Leblanc Family.

I turned to the woman with the baby and swam up to her, my hand reaching for the dock even as my Mark lashed out, knocking a piece of burning flax away from her head. “Jump!”

She was terrified as she gripped her screaming child. Searching the area around her, she danced on the edge of the dock.

“Lady!” I grabbed her ankle and tugged. “Jump now!”

Yvette grabbed hold of me, wrapped one arm around my chest and took me back under the water.

The woman and her baby hit the water, her dress billowing around her, bubbles bubbling up around them. One of the Leblancs scooped them both into his arms and disappeared.

I twisted so I could see where we were going, knowing the woman and her child would be safe.

Yvette turned, her long hair a streak of black, and shot me a determined look.

I was starting to run out of oxygen.

She kicked her tail, and we were flying through the water so fast, I had to close my eyes because the water hurt.

Then I was sailing through the air. I curled into a ball as instincts kicked in.

I was safe in the observation deck of our
lethara
.

I crouched on the blue tile floor, gaining my bearings. The deck was crowded as people gathered, soaking wet, clasping loved ones. Some looked lost as they searched for familiar faces. I stood, searching for someone who worked in our “city.”

The people around me pulled back in surprise. Parents grabbed their children, shielding them…from me.

I sighed and grabbed one of our
letharan
techs. That was going to get old quick. “Is there room elsewhere?”

He nodded. “There’s still room on some of the upper floors.”

“Great. Get this area cleared. There’s still survivors out there and the Leblancs are bringing them here.”

He nodded and started directing people toward the stairs and elevation platform.

I opted for the stair, running up to the next level. I stuck my neck out. There were people here, but not nearly as many as below. I ran up the remaining two floors and headed toward what we now called our command central. This floor was pressed as close to the
lethara
as he was willing to allow. He was close enough that we could still see through. Mostly.

The floor was one large room. Joshua had set up his equipment. He was standing at his radar, staring down at the screen. The green light shining back at him made him appear almost alien.

Keeley was beside him, but staring at something else. “His vitals look good. But there’s another patch of the poison there. We need to maneuver away. It’s starting to disperse and enter the waters, leaving the current.”

The
letharan
technician beside her nodded and did as she instructed. Well, I assume he did. His face went blank and the medusa seemed to shift.

Haji clasped me tightly in a hug, pounding my back. Breaking away, he returned to what he’d been doing before. “Sonar readings say that the submersibles are closing in fast.”

“Looking for survivors?” I asked.

“Lookin’ for us, you blundering idiot,” Joshua muttered. “The airboat is gaining altitude. There’s something real Sky-fearin’ big in that sky.”

I looked at the screen, but to be perfectly honest, what I saw didn’t make a lot of sense. They were just green dots with a bunch of numbers that made no sense at all. “How can you tell?”

“The amount of mass,” he muttered, scribbling something on a piece of paper next to him. “Whatever it is, it’s huge.”

“Could it be a queen ship?”

He shook his head. “Not bloody likely. This is bigger than a queen’s ship.”

“Sky City?”

He looked at me, his gaze distant. “Not quite that big, but it leads me to wonder—” he interrupted himself and jotted down a note. “Now’s not the time for that. If we can just dive into the deeper waters, we should be fine. Sky’s clear.”

“The water,” Haji reminded him, “is not. The remaining submersibles are searching for us.”

Joshua grumbled something and went to see what Haji was looking at.

“Well, they’re going to have a hard time doing that.” I went to join them, staring into the blue screen, seeing only more dots, though these were in shapes. I could tell easily which were the submersibles and which were the
letharan
. “Look at all that debris.” And on the screen, there was a lot of debris. “With the other
letharan
, they’re going to have a hard time figuring out which one is which.”

“Not really,” Joshua said. “The other
letharan
are staying in a pack. We’re not.”

Now I had a decision to make as I watched smaller blips moving quickly on the screen from the growing mass of Egolda City to each of the other dozen or so
letharan.
Should we go ahead and become a target, drawing them away, or should we hide and endanger the others?

I’d just seen one
lethara
die, and I didn’t care to see it happen again. “Stay on course. We’ll draw them away. Let them know we’re here.”

“How?” Joshua demanded.

“How many boilers did we get?”

He gave me a look that implied I wasn’t using my brain. “How many submersibles do you see?”

Three. Out of nine. I nodded. We had enough. “We dump one of the boilers. That’ll be a sure sign of who we are. There will be no question.”

Haji’s eyes widened in surprise.

Joshua was obviously upset, but he nodded and headed toward the communication console, which was dead silent. It was apparent that the Hands were catching on to the fact that we could hear them. He tapped out a message.

I turned to Keeley. “How are we on supplies?”

She looked up from what she was doing but just barely. “We had enough to keep us going for a few weeks, but with all these people, I doubt we’ll make it for longer than one.”

I snorted. “Well, I guess those ready-made meals will come in handy now, won’t they?”

She sent me a churlish glare.

Ryo came up to me from the stairwell.

Just the person I needed. “Make sure that our provisions are stashed and secure. We’ll be going through the ready-made meals and seeing how long we can make the other stuff last.”

He groaned and grinned. “Finally, we’ll be getting rid of those.” He turned to one of his men and issued an order. The man turned and did as he was bid. “We need to figure out what we’re going to do about all these people.”

I nodded, watching the sonar screen, alert for any sign of an attack. Nothing yet. The Egolda
lethara
was almost completely submerged. There was a lot less activity at the docks, with only occasional blip as one the of the Leblancs took another survivor to safety
.
“What do you have in mind?”

Ryo took in a deep breath. “We find an island, give them what provisions we can spare, knives, swords, pistols, and then we leave them.”