Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3) (55 page)

Can you hear me?

Rose shook her head in wonder,
Wise Girl
rattling around her. This was a very bumpy ride, the air thermals harsh. Not nearly as wild as flying in a hurricane had been. “I can hear you.”

The wall of storm clouds shot her with fear that she almost choked on. She’d never seen anything so horrifying in her life. A wall. Of clouds. She’d barely survived the hurricane before. She’d watched as the storm had eaten another plane. Something like that? It would decimate her.

Don’t think about it
, Du’a said, her soft voice filling her mind, a sort of ease settling over Rose’s nerves.

“How do you do that?” She’d never realized the birds could talk. She’d only seen them around Synn’s people.

Something like a smile slithered over their link, but it was felt rather than seen.
In much the same way as you, I would think.

Few knew about her Mark. She didn’t speak about it to anyone.

But it was one of the things that made her a good leader. As long as she could control her own emotions, she could control the emotions of those with her.

Bettie’s voice piped up. “It’s so weird hearing you talk to someone we can’t hear.”

“Try being the one,” Agnes said loudly, “with the bird in her ear.”

Laughter settled over the bond with Du’a.

Rose shook her head. “Are we close?”

Yes. Do you see just there?

Rose stared at the black bubbled mountain through the glass at her feet. If all she’d had were the words, she wouldn’t have seen “just there,” but she also had a vision to go with it.

Amongst the bubbles of what looked like frozen tar was one shaped more like a cube. In her mind’s eye, a red “x” marked it. “I see it.”

Destroy that, and the Han will no longer be able to rest here.

Something tickled at her mind through the link, some additional bit of information that was more intuition than real information. “What aren’t you telling me?”

Du’a dipped in front of Rose’s plane.
That box is all that protects the people on the other side of that cloud from toxins of your world.

Rose frowned. “How do you know that?”

“Same way I know anything,” Sparks quirked. “I’m just that damned pretty.”

“Sparks,” Jake barked louder than was his normal. “Shut it. What is it, Rose?”

Du’a waited for the banter to stop.
This is where we live, Rose. Trust me. We know things. Now, use your bombs and take out that box.

Neira landed on the Ino City docks, her dagger in her hand. She could feel the doors of the trap swing shut, but Synn had been the bait. She and her warriors were there to ensure Ino had no warriors left to wage war with.

She gestured behind her, telling her people to circle around and kill quietly.

Her people spilled across Ino City like a brown shadow.

Neira looked up. When she’d been there during the Games, Ino City had looked so impenetrable. Busy, full, loud, colorful.

Now, it was chillingly silent. The shops were gone. The houses had been removed. Silence except for the soft slap of the tainted ocean waves and the constant roar of the storm wall Neira knew was just on the other side of the melted mountain.

Bartolo Cruz’s boots crunched loudly as he landed.

“Hold the docks,” Neira commanded, then turned to Ga’a’dool.

She had leapt from her long boats almost soundlessly. The white painted dots along the other woman’s dark skin almost seemed to reflect the failing blue light of the sun.

Neira hadn’t expected Ino City to be abandoned, but she couldn’t think it would be. This had to be a trap. She couldn’t assume they’d been able to ride in without anyone seeing them. “Take the control room. Destroy all their equipment.
If
we allow them to live, they will do so blindly.

Ga’a’dool smiled a sick smile, her brown eyes icy cool. She clicked and grunted to her warriors behind her and they took off, spears and bows in hand as silently as spirit animals.

Neira returned her gaze to the might of Ino City.

The might that once was Ino City.

No longer.

The
Layal
was getting better at these landings. Haji was pleased. His land units might be more durable now, but they had lost some of their versatility by gaining weight.

Haji leapt out of the galley, his eight mechanical legs scrambling to regain ground as he controlled them with his toes and feet.

Rashidi ran ahead of the heavier units, his shield men following close behind.

Gun fire. Directly ahead.

The only thing Haji could see were black, molten boulders.

The
Layal
answered those shots from above.

Haji rushed forward, his guns in hand. He aimed at the orange blasts.

Men in leather armor flew through the air, their bare legs flailing.

The
Layal
had hit her mark. She rose into the sky, gaining altitude, continuing to fire.

Haji scampered around the boulders, firing into the remaining three men cowering there. He scanned the face of the mountain with his mechanical eyes.

Rashidi scrambled up the mountain, lobbing a red blob to his left.

The mountain exploded. Men sailed through the air.

Haji and his men continued forward. He would eradicate the Han, making it impossible for the man to inflict his horror on anyone else.

Haji would reclaim his lands. His people would rebuild their homes.

The Han would die this day.

Nix rolled onto the docks behind Neira’s forces. She wasn’t entirely sure what she was doing there. She only knew that the
lethara
that now belonged to—oh, what was that Ino girl’s name? She couldn’t remember and it didn’t matter. The
lethara
had grabbed her and thrown her across the ocean to land on Ino City.

Another grand entrance.

She brushed at the slime coating her clothes, raising her arms away with a grimace. What was she doing there?

Something tugged on her legs. They moved toward the ocean as if with a will of their own.

She raised her chin, but couldn’t stop the movement of her feet. Her breath raced in her chest as her feet picked up the pace. Her Mark rose from her shoulders, waving fire over her head.

The Mark controlled her, took control of her. She didn’t know where she was going or why. She didn’t appreciate not being the one issuing the orders.

Her hands grabbed a rope and her feet helped her climb it, power she’d never experienced racing through her arms.

It was time to figure out why this programmer thought she was important, and she needed to discover a way to break his power hold over her.

Her body was hers.

Hers.

No one else’s.

I
COULDN’T BELIEVE WE’D ACTUALLY
won. Though, the final battle had only been won because we’d destroyed the Great Families previously.

And yet, we were stronger than we ever imagined. Or maybe I was the only one who couldn’t imagine it.

Ino City had been destroyed. Most of the citizens had fled on the way to the melted mountains. They trickled in, joining us at Lake Chatan in any way they could; sea vessel,
lethara
, a few even got a ride from a Hand envoy.

The Han’s forces had been decimated. I didn’t know where he got the men for his army, but from what Rose had said, there was nothing left of him.

Tokarz was still in my custody. I didn’t know what to do with him. Jail him? Kill him? Strip him of all his power and set him free?

Shankara had been decimated. We had their
lethara
in our southern bay. He hadn’t made it any further. It didn’t appear as though we could save him, though Keeley hadn’t given up on him. He would never house a city again. That was clear.

Neira was holding court, for lack of a better term, on the main level of Enhnapi. People from tribes I had never seen before were here. She seemed to know most of them. They spoke fluent Xi’ous, so I assumed they were a part of Kiwidinok.

There were others, though. The remaining tribes from the League of Cities had returned. Of course, they’d waited until we’d defeated the Great Families. What would we do, though? Turn them out?

I struggled to hear much of anything over the noise of the massive crowd. Seeing a familiar red head—something I hadn’t seen in months—I moved through the press of people toward Keeley.

She saw me coming, but instead of fleeing, she stood her ground, continuing to talk to those beside her. She smiled at me, her green eyes flaring with a light I hadn’t seen in her…well, ever. “El’Asim.”

I flinched a little, but I had to remember my place. I was now a leader in this massive community. I couldn’t be the boy I once was. I smiled and tipped my head. “Healer Bahrain.”

Her smile deepened and she dipped her head.

Doctor Carson raised his eyebrows, gesturing at me with his cup. “We were just discussin’ the school we’re intendin’ to build.”

“Oh.” I watched Keeley with a new light. She’d grown in the time away from me. I might have scared her half out of her wits, but she’d run away to become someone much more. “That is a fantastic idea. Can I assume that you two will be leading the medical team for the League?”