Fall of Sky City (A Steampunk Fantasy Sci-Fi Adventure Novel) (Devices of War) (8 page)

Oh, what hell had I fallen into?

CHAPTER 6

WHAT GAME IS SHE PLAYING?

They
took me to a large bathing chamber where I was doused and scrubbed until my skin bled in spots. There must have been something in the food. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake the fog. My body was on fire, leaving me chilled. My limbs were heavy, and I needed help just to raise my head.

How pathetic.

Light sparkled off the water, sending reflections all along the pale blue walls and ceiling, sending shooting pain through my eye sockets into my brain. The men had set me up in a bubbling pool of hot water, my head perched on the edge. I didn’t know where they’d gone. It only mattered that they had.

I soaked in the heat like a man starved.

Part of me wanted to escape, but I knew I could not. It irked me, with what little energy I had. Sorrow no longer fueled me. Grief, anger, rage were all useless. I’d exhausted all of that just to keep myself going. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the rolling heat of the water, waiting to see what was next, hoping, praying, wishing it would just end.

I was hauled out of the pool long before I was ready, though my hands had begun to prune. By this time, I was able to stand on my own. Walking was a slightly different story. Servant women came and dressed me in clothes much finer than any I’d ever worn. They felt sticky. Foreign.

“Can you walk?” one of the men asked. Faceless. Nameless. Sea of uniforms. They all looked the same.

My nod was heavy.

“Good.” He turned away. “I’m tired of carrying you. Follow me.”

I moved more slowly than I was used to, lacking grace. I needed the wall to keep me upright. However, we made it up three flights of stairs, pausing often so I could catch my breath, and finally into a room of satin and sunlight.

Queen Nix waited for me, perched on a padded stool in front of her mirror, a servant girl brushing out her long, black hair. As soon as we entered, she rose and came to my side. “You look exhausted.”

I said nothing. I knew I couldn’t look really fantastic. One eye was still swollen shut and the other was difficult to open all the way due to a healing cut across my eyelid. I stood in the middle of the room and assessed the situation. If this was hell, I wasn’t certain how it operated.

“Come lie down on the bed,” she said, guiding me in that direction. “Let me tend to your wounds.”

I balked. I felt a twinge in my gut signaling danger, but how could a bed be a bad thing?

She turned to me, appearing sincere. “You’ve spent months in that cell. Come, let your body remember the comfort of a bed.”

“Why?”

“My queen,” my guard said, his heels snapping together, “do you require anymore assistance?”

She waved him off. “Now, enough with this nonsense. Come.”

“Why?” I repeated.

She took a step away. “Why? Why what, Primus?”

“Why…” I gestured feebly with my hand. “…this? Now?”

“You will speak in the language of the Hands, a language you know well.” She smiled at me as if I were a child, and cupped my cheek in her hand. “You’re not thinking straight.”

“Likely,” I said in my native tongue, “because I was beaten.”

“I apologize about that, my sweet, but it had to be done.”

I swallowed and stared at her through my half open eye.

“You had to be turned, had to be reprogrammed.”

“Brainwashed you mean?”

She tsked at me. “It would appear that you are in need of more?”

“More what? Beatings?”

“If we must, yes.”

I stared at her with exhausted incredulity. “Are you serious?”

She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Why are you still speaking in the language of the barbarians?”

“The language of my Family?”

Her expression hardened, her eyes narrowed, her cheeks sucked in with anger. “I am your family now, Synn. You are a Primus.”

I snorted. “I am yours?”

She smiled, the anger melted away. “Yes.” Her voice was soft, as was her hand on mine. “Come. Drink. Eat. And then you must sleep.” She pushed me to the bed.

This time I didn’t resist. I didn’t have the energy to.

She handed me a glass of water, and helped me bring it to my lips. When I was done, she took it and replaced the glass with a piece of bread. “Slowly.”

I nibbled at the bread, but everything was so heavy; my eyelids, my hands.

She rubbed a healing salve into each of my wounds.

I let my head fall back. “What did you put in the water?”

“Nothing, my dear. You’ve had a very trying time.” She took the bread lying in my lap and closed my eyes. “Sleep.”

She sat there for a long moment, tucking a cover around me. When I felt her leave, I opened my eyes and watched her step toward the vanity, picking up a hairbrush.

“What are you doing with the boy?” a female voice like tempered steel asked.

Nix turned to the woman who had just entered the room.

“What is your plan?”

“You’ve seen his Mark, Dyna.” Nix put her hairbrush down.

I turned my head to see better. The Queen of Swords. She wore a tight leather uniform of blue and silver, her pale hair pulled back in a long braid. Her blue eyes watched me with quiet disdain.

“I see the Mark. Surely you know he is too old.”

“Do not doubt me, sister. The greatest Mark mankind has ever seen shall be mine to command.”

“You go too far.”

“Do you fear for me?”

Dyna’s pale lips flattened as she turned her gaze to Nix. “You have broken him.”

“Far from it, my dear Dyna.” Nix’s eyes fell on me, meeting my gaze. “He’s still fighting my every move.” She came to stand by me, stroking my arm, never letting my gaze fall. “Aren’t you?”

I didn’t really think she needed an answer. I held onto her gaze in defiance.

“You cannot hope that this will go well.”

“I need him strong, sister.” She raised her hand and closed my eyes again. This time, I let them stay closed. Sleep beckoned. “He will be willing to follow me. I will make certain of it.”

“Sister,” Dyna’s padded footsteps drew closer, “just be careful. He is dangerous.”

“That is the reason I want him.”

The blissfulness of sleep finally overtook me.

* * *

In the weeks that followed, I healed. She let me out of her bedroom and into a few of the rooms adjoining it. I saw no one.

The walls were smooth and sheer, and the rooms she kept me in were high above the city. The door at the end of the short hall was locked. There was no way out unless I wished to take my life.

I wasn’t willing to do that.

Along with my strength, a renewed sense of rage built; quiet, seething. I would find a way out of there and then I’d have my revenge.

Nix had many rules and she ensured that I understood all of them.

If I failed to obey those rules, she would have me bound and beaten back into submission, or she would—

I swallowed, watching the strange two winged vessels burr through the air.

She liked to use my body against me. It craved her touch, though I loathed it. She would drug me, then bind me to the bed and pet me, exclaiming over my body’s enjoyment. She would continue until I relented, agreed to do her bidding, obeyed whatever rule she’d set forth.

Who was I becoming? What had I already given up?

Each day of continued captivity only fueled my anger further, though I was getting better at hiding it.

Nix seemed to understand that. As we sat at the table one night, perched on our pillows, eating a supper of grapes and squid, her painted nails tapped a frustrated cadence.

I remained quiet, waiting for her to speak. I had paid the price for speaking out of turn before. She’d bound me to a chair, unable to move for hours, unable to speak. I would wait.

“You seem restless, Synn.”

It was not a question.

“What can I do to give you happiness?”

The only answer that leapt to my tongue was one that would provide me with further punishment. “I am happy, my queen,” I said quietly, calmly eating my meal, my gaze lowered.

She threw down her unfinished bread. “You are not.”

I let my hands still, keeping my gaze on my goblet of water.

She rose to her feet, crossed the room and came back to stand beside me.

I looked up.

She held in her hands a heavy tome.

I set down my silverware.

She raised her chin and peered down at me. “You are interested in the stars, are you not?”

What was she playing at? “If it pleases you, then I am.”

Her lips flattened. “It would please me if you remembered something you once enjoyed.”

“I only enjoy the benefit of your company.”

“You do not lie well.”

“Perhaps, my queen, it is because I lack the ability to use your language with the necessary skill.”

Her eyebrow rose. “Oh, you use it well.” She sighed and handed me the volume before regaining her seat. “Read it. This time tomorrow, I hope to see a little more passion.”

The next day, I remained undisturbed as fiery Kala rose and fell to be replaced by bright, cool Sang. The book was filled with all the knowledge I’d only barely tapped into on my own. The astronomers had made huge discoveries. They had an optiscope that made mine look like sticks. They called it a telescope.

They mapped out what they called solar systems. We were at the edge of the system that surrounded Kala. They had mathematical diagrams for our seasons, each turn around Kala, and defined why some winters were longer than others.

They even had other “planets” that they theorized might have life.

I was intrigued. Stars with life like ours. Was it possible?

I barely moved from my spot on the balcony. I got up to get water, to eat and to relieve myself. Otherwise, I was engrossed in the book she had given me.

Nix.

What was I going to do about her?

I needed a chance to get out of this tower to see the city, to find a way to escape. There was a limit, an edge. I could see it. I could see the airplanes as they landed and left. It was possible to leave.

If I only knew how.

Nix had mentioned something about a collegium. The Great Families knew about it, but had no idea where it was. Perhaps, the children were here, being instructed in the technologies the Hands had stolen, learning the magicks the Hands offered.

Perhaps if I showed an interest, she would let me take a class.

I stared at the page outlining the system surrounding Kala with longing. Were there classes on this? What about classes on the technologies? Weaponry? What knowledge could I take with me when I escaped?

The door to the suite opened and closed. I didn’t look up. I knew who it was.

Quiet footsteps padded through the room and stopped at the door to the balcony, the sheer curtains fluttering in the breeze.

I didn’t move, but watched her through my eyelashes.

She placed one hand on the door frame, the other on her hip, one long, smooth leg peeking through the slit in her dress. “You’re still reading the book?”

“There is much to read, my queen.” I watched her reaction from the corner of my eye. I turned the page and shook my head, allowing a slight smile to spread across my lips. “Did you know that we are a moon to the planet Kel’mar, and that Kel’mar travels around Kala?”

She was quiet for a long moment before she moved from the door, and came to sit beside me where I was sprawled belly down on the balcony. “Can you read this language well?”

I nodded. “Though the handwriting is poor in places, which makes it difficult. But see here?” I pointed to a particular line of text. “The years of Ilona are marked by the passing around Kel’mar.” I grinned. “That’s fascinating. I’ve never seen that in my studies.”

Her eyes lit up in genuine enjoyment. “Probably because you were too busy manning a ship.”

“That is possible, my queen. A ship takes a great deal of work to maintain.” I turned the page and blankly studied the picture.

She ran her finger along the ink. “This really interests you?”

I nodded slightly. “It does, my queen.”

She pursed her lips in thought.

I smiled and read the inscription under my thumb. “Festos is actually an asteroid. I did not even know what an asteroid was until today. Apparently it is like trash, or the debris of planets and moons after they’ve collided.” I leaned my weight on one arm, looking up at her. “The star clouds we see in winter? They’re a part of that.”

She reached out and traced the line of my cheek, her dark eyes thoughtful. “We have classes in the collegium.”

I feigned surprise. “On this?”

A smile settled upon her lips. “Yes. The man who authored that book is one of our instructors.”

I let out a puff of air, my eyes trailing the two-page picture. “That would be…” I shook my head. “…amazing.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I could let you go. For a price.”

I knew that was coming. I allowed my smile to slip, my chin raising. “And what would that be?”

She brought her face to mine, her eyes grabbing mine. “Promise me that you are mine.”

I breathed, my mind racing. I could lie to her. Would she believe me? No. I shook my head slightly. “I cannot promise this.”