The Starfall Knight (5 page)

“Did they really need us?” Devan asked Romaine.

“No,” Romaine replied.  “But professors are a strange lot.”

“No doubt.”

Romaine rested a hand on the hilt of her shortsword.  “Sorry to pull you two in, considering it’s your time off.”

“It’s all right, Marshal,” Benton said.

“Get out of here.  You’ve earned it.”

Devan clambered up the final incline, grabbing onto a creeping weed for purchase.  Rika preferred the long route following the rough trail and Tayu, ever the gentleman, had accompanied her.  Devan preferred the challenge of cutting directly to the Ledge, as long as he didn’t look back down.  He heaved himself onto the plateau and breathed in the pristine air.

Little more than foothills lay north of the city, with a handful of estates and hamlets dotting the woodland landscape.  Further east, however, the quarry and various mines lay out of sight of the current vista.  An hour’s hike separated the city from the edge of the aerock, making the Ledge a popular destination despite – or, Devan thought, perhaps because of – the neverending drop.

As always, Devan approached the Ledge with care.  No one quite knew when the slab of rock had been embedded into the dirt – it had always been a feature of the land – but the university had performed studies on its composition, finding it similar to the concrete and mortar used by some of the larger buildings in Centara.  At the length and width of a field, however, it seemed a perfect anchor-point for another aerock but due to its location on the leading end, any aerock attached to the Ledge would crash into Centara.

Rika and Tayu joined Devan, heading directly to the Ledge.

“What did you bring?” Rika asked as Tayu unshouldered his rucksack.

“Rug.”

“Naturally.”

“Mugs.”

“To drink?”

“A cask of wine.  Boar’s Head, bin fifteen.”

“Oh, lovely.”

“Bread, veined cheese.”

“Delicious.”

“That’s it.”  Tayu laid out the food on the rug, which Rika had thoughtfully placed some ways from the actual edge of the aerock.

“What about you, Devan?” Rika said.

He smiled and produced four bricks.  Devan knelt and placed them at each corner of the rug.  With the constant headwind that arose from sitting at the leading end of the aerock, the weighted rug was a necessity.

“Someone’s thinking,” Rika said.

“Hey!”  Tayu frowned.

Devan laughed.  “Also, smoked lamprey, fried yam biscuits and shredded beef cheek.”

“How did you score all that?” Tayu asked.

“I pulled in some favours at the barracks.”

Devan laid out the food in the wooden bowls as his friends settled in.  Tayu poured the wine as Rika produced a fresh vegetable mix and a tapioca teacake.

They held up their ceramic mugs.  “What are we drinking to?”

“To discoveries!” Tayu said.

“The starfall knight,” Rika said.

“To discoveries.”  Devan clanked his mug against the others.

They drank and started on the food.  Rika broke off some bread and meat, saying, “So, tell us more.  What did the professors say?”

“Don’t bother,” Tayu said.  “I’ve already tried.  It’s secret ranger business.”

“How dull.”  Rika gesticulated with a shard of crust.  “If Tayu weren’t here, you’d tell me, right?”

“Of course.”  Devan shrugged.  “Then again, we all have secrets, don’t we, Tayu?”

“What?”  Tayu gaped with a mouth full of cheese.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen an andonite vein or a working transfer system.”

“But it’s dangerous!”  Tayu chewed and swallowed his food.  With a clearer voice, he continued, “Hardly anyone outside the miners or venting teams are allowed in.  Moons above, most miners don’t hang around them if they don’t have to.”

“What’s it like?” Rika asked.

Tayu shrugged.  “Just imagine the Rose of Andon.  The andonite veins are exposed, cleared of rock and other debris.  The hammer systems are laid over the top with the water or air pipes.  It’s boring.”

“Unless something goes wrong,” Devan said.

“Well, sure.  If something goes wrong, it’s not boring, it’s life-threatening.”

Devan munched on a lamprey and washed it down with a gulp of the wine.  The constant headwind didn’t seem as strong; perhaps Centara had hit a flow of air pushing in the same direction.  A pair of hawks circled overhead, likely hunting for prey in the wooded foothills around them.

“Do you wonder what they see?” Rika said.

“Birds?” Devan asked.  “Probably not much more than we do.”

“But they can fly.”

“So are we, in a way.”

“Between aerocks?”

“Only longwings can do that,” Tayu said.

“So,” Rika said, “a longwing might’ve seen the knight fall from the sky.”  She drank some wine and lay back on an elbow.  “If it hadn’t struck Saruwa, we’d never have found it.”

“Perhaps a skyfisher might’ve caught it,” Tayu said.

Devan snorted.  “I doubt it.  The area of a net compared to the area of Centara is tiny.  And remember when the eastern nets broke?”

“What a mess.”  Tayu nodded, swirling his mug around.  “The booms slammed into the under-earth, dislodged the bedrock.  We almost lost a lot more than some netting and timber.  All from a bad gust of wind and a wayward Elade.”

“What if Elade had crashed into Centara?” Rika said.

“I don’t know,” Devan replied.  He bit into a biscuit and chewed for a moment.  “I suppose it wouldn’t be much different from Iselt.  They crashed it deliberately all those years ago and Centara gained a nice little mountain range out of it.”

“Iselt’s andonite veins were tapped out,” Tayu said.  “I’d hate to be anywhere near a smashed active vein.”

“Fair enough.”

They finished the meats and cheese, picking at the bread while Rika sliced the teacake.  “Either of you want to see the performance of Karid’s new piece?”

Devan shared a glance with Tayu – Rika’s love of music meshed with her teaching it to children, but Devan and Tayu were indifferent, leading to some awkward conversations in the house that they shared along with Benton.  Thankfully, Rika’s exploration of new and exotic instruments was banned at the ranger barracks.

“What’s this new piece?”

“It’s an experimental composition,” Rika said.  “An hour-long study using various instruments, each one based on the pulse cycle of different andonite chips.  I think he used a range of coins.”

“Well,” Devan said, “I think we have to experience it for ourselves, don’t you think so, Tayu?”

Tayu glared at Devan, mouth agape with the remnants of a half-chewed crust visible.

“It’s settled!”

“Oh, you owe me, now,” Tayu said.

“Don’t you want to go?” Rika asked as she handed out the slices of cake.

Tayu bit in the cake, conveniently delaying his response.  Devan grinned and said, “Of course he does.  We both enjoy new things.  And supporting the Centaran artist community.”

“Lovely,” Rika said, giving a slice of cake to Devan.  “But I agree with Tay – now, you owe him.”

Devan grunted – it would be nice to share something about the knight with his friends.  He wasn’t one for secrets.

“There’s a journal,” Devan said.  He set down his plate and sipped some wine.

“A journal?  Written by the knight?” Tayu asked.  He and Rika leaned forward, munching on dessert at the same time.

“The university professors think so,” Devan said.  “Professor Conrick is supposed to be looking into it.  I want to know what he finds out.  Me and Benton found the body – I think I deserve to be amongst the first to know.”

Rika nodded.  “I know the university buildings.  And Conrick’s department; it’s close to the performing arts faculty.”

“You’ll help me?”

“Of course,” Rika replied.  “Can’t have you bumbling about the campus like a lost cow.  You’ll make me look bad.”

Chapter Four

“Come here, Alessa.”  Leonus passed the virid pipe to Pelio and reached for Alessa like a baby grasping for a dangling toy.  Knowing better than to disappoint him, Alessa set down the dustpan and broom and sauntered over to Leonus.

“Beautiful,” Leonus said.  “Isn’t she?”

Pelio and Brunos, seated next to the window overlooking the road, nodded and grunted, preoccupied with the virid pipe.  Elina crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair but said nothing.

“Off the edge with you lot,” Leonus snapped.  He grabbed Alessa and sat her on his lap with a tight squeeze of her thigh.

“Leonus, what about some food?” Pelio said.

“What about it?” Leonus replied.  “Get it yourself.”

Pelio kicked Elina’s chair.

“Hey, stop it!” Elina said.  She steadied herself against the table.

“Bring some food, woman.”

Elina scowled but said nothing.  She hopped off her seat and headed to the crate of supplies.  “Not much here,” Elina said as she rummaged through the box.

Alessa found herself holding her breath and forced herself to relax.  She leaned into Leonus and trailed a hand onto his hip.

“Just bring us something,” Pelio said.

“Yeah, hurry up,” Brunos muttered.  A puff of virid smoke shot out of his nostrils.

Elina produced a cloth package tied off with string.  She opened it, revealing strips of dried meat.  As she returned to her seat, Leonus coughed expectantly.

“Sorry, Leon,” Elina said, offering the dried meat.  “You first.”

Leonus nudged Alessa and she took a handful of strips.  Elina’s eyes narrowed and Alessa smiled at her.  Elina leaned back, offering the meat to Pelio and Brunos.  Elina said, “I wonder where all of the food went.”

“You greedy shits probably ate it all,” Leonus said.  Pelio and Brunos laughed, spraying bits of meat onto the floor.

“No matter,” Leonus continued.  “I’ll get more when I run out.”

“That might be a problem,” Elina purred.  “All of the spoils from the last raid are gone.”

Brunos tossed the virid pipe to Leonus, who caught it with unexpected dexterity for someone who had been smoking the leaf all day.  “No matter,” Leonus said.  “There are other things to trade.”

Alessa kept her face expressionless as she bit into a strip of meat.

As Leonus packed more virid into the pipe, the cabin door opened and Vantanis stepped inside.

“Father!”  Alessa slid off Leonus’ lap and stood up.  “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to speak with you,” Vantanis said.  He cast his gaze around the cabin, his nose wrinkling as Leonus puffed on the virid pipe.  “I see that you are busy.”

“It’s fine,” Alessa said.  She stepped around the table and took her father’s arm.  “We can speak outside.”

Vantanis nodded and led Alessa outside.  Night had fallen; with the cabin’s fireplace burning all day, the stained windows and inhaling stale virid smoke, Alessa hadn’t noticed the passage of time.  She breathed in the chill air that, even with the stench of excrement and rotting food, still smelled sweeter than Leonus’ cabin.

Her father seemed to take an aimless path between the shacks.  When they neared Tarius’ smithy, Vantanis slowed to a halt and wrapped his patchy cloak tighter.  “I didn’t see you at home.”

“I know, father.”  Alessa leaned against a rickety mud-brick wall.  “I’ve been busy.”

“Staying with Leonus?”

“Yes.”

“You don’t need to,” Vantanis said.  “You’re my daughter.  You are under my protection.”

“Am I?” Alessa said.  “Do you think so lowly of me that I would whore myself to Leonus for no reason?”

“Don’t say that!”

“Why not?  It’s true!”

Vantanis paced around in a tight circle.  “Why, Alessa?  It’s unnecessary.”

“Even if you were strong enough to protect me,” Alessa said, “even if you were strong enough to get food for us both, would you do as everyone else does to make it a reality?”  She placed a hand on her father’s arm.  “If I were attacked, how would you force Tarius to help you?  Refuse to serve him?  Sirinis survived without an aerock pilot before and it can do so again.”

“Not if Tarius wants to stay as Imperator.”

“Do you truly believe that?  If you died this instant, Tarius would still have enough men to hold off against the Serpens, Ceres and all the other factions.  You give him an advantage but it won’t break him if you walked away now.”

“So, you sell yourself to buy some protection from his son?” Vantanis said.

“And some loyalty,” Alessa replied.

Vantanis nodded.  “When that loyalty is needed, I hope you are right.”  He paused as a woman tore past, shrieking.  A pair of Tarius’ thrashers sprinted in pursuit but their clubs were strapped to their backs.  Alessa knew what they would do once they caught the woman, regardless of her crimes.

“Alessa,” Vantanis said, “you must remember that you will always have me.  You’ll never need to purchase loyalty from me.”

“I know, father.”  Alessa hugged him and he enveloped her in his cloak.  “But things are different now.”

Vantanis did not say anything for a moment.  He sighed.  “When your mother died, I was a wreck.  I felt guilty and partly jealous.”

“Jealous?”

“Perhaps if we hadn’t encountered that aerock, she would not have died in the raid.  But in dying, she was spared our existence on Sirinis.”

“Father?  You’re glad that she died?”

“No,” Vantanis said.  “But, like you said, you’re old enough to make your choices now, so you’re old enough to know reality.  Would you stay here given a choice?”

Alessa buried her cheek against her father’s cloak, filling her head with the scent of childhood.  “Where would we go?  This is our life.  This is how we live on aerocks.”

“I know.”  Vantanis stroked her hair.  “You sold your practice sword, didn’t you?”

Alessa sighed but didn’t answer.

“It’s all right – I’ll find you another.”

“I’m no warrior, father.”

“I hope you never need to be.”  Vantanis squeezed her shoulder.  “I noticed some additions to the larder.”

“Did you?”  Alessa lifted her head and glanced around but there was no one hiding in the gloom.  “I stole it from Leonus.”

“Oh, Alessa.  That is a dangerous game.”

Heavy footfalls smashed into the mud, fading into the distance.  Strange, Alessa thought that they had privacy.  She withdrew from her father’s embrace and darted around the corner of the closest shack.