The Wind Merchant (15 page)

Callie shook her head, running her fingers through her newly cropped hair. “How’s it look?” she asked, cringing slightly.

Ras was speechless. She wore tall leather boots over a pair of tan corduroy pants held up by brown suspenders strapped over a white long-sleeved ruffled shirt. Her brilliant red hair fell just below the nape of her neck when the wind wasn’t picking it up. She looked stunning.

“I look stupid, don’t I?” she asked.

“No, it’s great. You look like the navi of
The Brass Fox
.”

“Navi?”

Ras nodded. “Navigator.” They were almost to the other side of the canyon, having taken the long route. “Is your head all right?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“When we go through the tunnel into Framer’s, I’ll need you to keep an eye out for
The Kingfisher
.”

“Aye-aye, Captain,” she said.

“You really don’t have to call me that,” Ras said.

“Yes, sir!” She stood at attention, then broke into laughter as Ras made a face at her. “
The Kingfisher
is the one on the propaganda poster in your room, right?” she asked, “Stop the Clockwork!” she quoted the poster in a mock deep voice.

“That’s the one. Should be easy to spot.”

“Why’s that?”

“It’ll be the only one above us.”

Eventually
The Brass Fox
glided toward the cliffs that made up Framer’s Valley. Ras brought the ship through the tunnel and into the circular opening covered in the wavy green. Ras looked mournfully at the cave.

“The Convergence was in that cave over there—”

“Is that
real
grass?” Callie exclaimed, leaning once more over the railing. “I just want to roll around in it!”

“Uh, yeah…it’s pretty great,” Ras said, distracted. He brought the ship up above the clouds and began searching for
The Kingfisher
.

Callie rotated to leaning her back on the railing to stare beyond
The Brass Fox
’s balloon. “Ras! He’s still here!”

“All right, let’s see how high she can go.” Ras engaged the controls, pulling up on the wheel to pick up altitude until it capped out well underneath what
The Kingfisher
could manage. He retrieved his flare gun from underneath the ship’s console and loaded up a charge before firing off a red flare into the sky. It erupted into a star pattern.

“Ooh, pretty,” Callie said.

They waited for a moment for the ship to descend down to their level. Then waited another minute.

“What other colors do you have?”

“I think just red…I’ve never used one before,” Ras said.

“Don’t different colors mean different things?”

“I thought they all just meant ‘
hey, over here
,’” Ras said as he looked at the box containing two other flares. He didn’t want to waste them and wondered if Hal was testing him. He grabbed the duffle bag and extracted Elias’ grapple gun. The leather straps were worn but form fitted to his father’s arm. Fastening the straps from wrist to elbow, he then loaded a spike-to-magnet shot. He fired the first part into the hull of his ship, then took aim and shot at
The Kingfisher
, spooling out a healthy length of cable.

“What are you doing?” Callie asked.

A satisfying metallic clank rang out. Ras smiled. “If he won’t come to us…”

“What if it moves?” Callie asked, sounding like she didn’t want to question Ras’ intelligence, but needed to make sure the obvious was stated.

“It won’t…shouldn’t,” Ras reassured. “But just in case, we should move quickly.”

“We? You want me to go up there too?” Callie asked.

“I promised to protect you, right? Can’t do that if you stay behind. Besides, it’s just a couple of old men up there. They’ll probably give you candy.” From the bag Ras pulled a harness attached to a locking mechanism with a crank. He tossed the harness to her. “Here, put that on, legs in those holes…”

She did so dutifully and Ras began equipping a harness himself. He heard a delicate
clink
and looked up to see Callie connected to the crank already. “Like this?”

“You been taking climbing lessons?”

“No, but once I read a book about rock climbers where the author went into painful detail about how the characters prepared for a climb…and the gruesome details of what happened to them when they fell. I felt it worth remembering.”

A gust of wind gently rocked
The Brass Fox
, causing the part of the deck attached to the spike to creak loudly.

“Let’s lock you in,” Ras said, attaching Callie’s crank to the cable. “There we are. You’re going nowhere,” he said. “Now, we’ll turn this crank to ascend and descend.” Ras fiddled with his harness when he heard a deafening crack and a piercing scream as Callie shot up and away from
The Brass Fox
, trailed by the loose piece of deck.

“Ras!” she cried out as she slipped away, rising with
The Kingfisher
.
 

He stood dumbfounded for a moment. “Idiot!” he muttered to himself. “Hold on! I’m coming!” Ras loaded a rappelling hook into the gun and fired it high into the nearby cliff well above his ship. He ran over to the railing and climbed atop it, almost losing his balance, then pushed the button to start retracting the cable and swung off the side of the airship.

He landed hard against the cliff face, still needing to ascend. Callie’s screams continued. Taking the cable in his right hand, he disengaged it from the gun, then loaded another rappelling hook. He fired, listened to the cable
fwip
away, and felt the line go taut. Testing his weight with a quick tug, he then let go with his right hand and began retracting the cable. The next ascension led him to the rock face at an altitude even with
The Kingfisher
’s. In the distance, Callie dangled below the ship. “Hold on! I’m coming!”

Ras repeated the ascending process once more on the cliff face, pulling him high above the ascending ship. He only had one more charge, but it had a magnetic top on it, which was perfect. He looked down at the ship and did a little calculation before noticing Callie being hauled onboard the ship by a few men on the deck.

He took a breath, swallowed hard, and squeezed the firing mechanism in his palm, watching the magnet connect to the siding of the ship. “I’m going to regret this,” he said, throwing caution and himself to the wind. He fell like a stone past
The Kingfisher
before jerking underneath the ship as the cable wrapped around the underbelly, rounding out his descent and shooting him up the opposite side.

At the inception of the plan, he had imagined himself landing squarely on the deck with a heroic tuck and roll that would have impressed Callie.
 

He didn’t anticipate bouncing off the dirigible.
 

Rebounding from the balloon, Ras lost momentum and fell past the side of
The Kingfisher
’s deck. In a brief moment of clarity, before the cable jerked taut, he tried to recall why he had forgotten to fasten the strap around his torso.

Snap.

The artwork onboard
The Kingfisher
made it difficult for Callie to keep up with her elderly escorts. She didn’t dare stop, but made a mental note to request a tour if time would allow.

The door to the circular study slid open, spilling light from the hallway onto the room's sole inhabitant. The man reclined in a dark leather chair, well worn to its master’s form. Without conceding defeat to the ceiling in their private staring contest, the man acknowledged the entrants. "Dayus."

"Sir?" Dayus asked, standing at attention.

"Am I to gather by the absence of a certain young man behind you that you’ve found a replacement?” the recliner asked, breaking his gaze from the ceiling, turning his attention to Callie. “Oh, who have we here?”

Callie’s mouth went dry as the legend from her illustrated books stood before her. She began to speak, but opted to curtsey beforehand. “Calista Tourbillon, sir. Thank you for having us, Mr. Napier,” she said shakily.

“Us?” Hal asked, directing the question to Dayus.

“Erasmus is being fetched from underneath the ship,” Dayus said with a mixture of amusement and apology.

“Is he now?” Hal asked, then swept an arm toward his desk. “Miss Tourbillon, if you would join me, I believe we have business to discuss.”

Callie found herself half paying attention, lost in the stacks of ancient books lining the walls. “Yes, business…” she said, fully distracted and not stepping forward to join Hal.

Hal traced her eye-line and chuckled softly. “I don’t think those would be of much use to you, I’m afraid.”

“Are they blank?” Callie asked, aghast.

“Oh, no, my dear,” Hal said, “just in a language unfamiliar to most.”

Callie’s shoulders sank slightly and she stepped away from Dayus to take one of the seats facing Hal’s desk. Her eyes were drawn to a small model of a white train sitting next to some papers. “Scale replica?” she asked hopefully. The object seemed plucked straight from her dreams.

Hal sat across from her, then picked up the train, inspecting it. “I should hope so,” he said, grin widening. “I wouldn’t envy the difficulties of travel for such small people.”

“I mean, it’s based off of something real, right?”

“A relic of a bygone era, yes,” Hal said, gently returning the model to his desk. Some soft voices murmured in the hallway, drawing Hal’s attention. He looked across the room to Dayus, raising an eyebrow.

“It appears, in his theatrics, Mr. Veir has managed to dislocate his shoulder, rendering himself unconscious,” Dayus said.

“What? Where is he?” Callie asked.

“Just…hanging around at the moment,” Dayus said. “So I’m told.”

“Dayus,” Hal chided, attempting to hide a smirk. “Not everyone appreciates your sense of humor. Let us treat our guests with respect.”

“It’s not like he’s going to hear me,” Dayus said. “I’ll see what we can do to ease his pain.” With that, Dayus left the room, leaving Callie alone with Hal.

“It looks like business may have to wait,” Hal said.

Callie thought for a moment. “Not necessarily,” she said. The opening twinge of a headache made her steady herself.

“Do you have a proposition?” Hal asked.

She shook her head. “A request, if you’re willing.”

Hal leaned back in his chair, giving approval with his silence.

“How did the Great Overload happen?” Callie asked.

Hal ran a hand through his bristly hair. “That is quite a large request.”

“Weren’t you there?” Callie asked.

“If I were there when it happened, suffice it to say I wouldn’t be here,” he said.

“But you do know how it happened?”

“Why are you so keenly interested in such a morbid blot on our world’s timeline?” Hal asked.

Callie shrugged. “I guess I’ve always thought if we knew how it happened, then someone could figure out how to reverse it.”

Hal took a deep breath. “I’m afraid those that have gone on have gone on for good.”

“No, I’m sorry, that’s not what I mean,” Callie said, “I mean, make the land livable again. It’s only a matter of time before the last Atmo city falls, right?” The headache gnawed at her once more, but she closed her eyes to focus on battling it back.

“Ah, there we have a noble endeavor, indeed,” Hal said, offering a sad smile. “As best I understand, the Great Overload was a construction of the Elders, whose antidote—if ever there was one—has been lost to time.”

“Oh.” Callie’s shoulders fell in disappointment.

“But, just because we don’t know doesn’t mean we can’t find out,” Hal said, nodding until she mirrored the motion.

Dayus entered the room with two other elderly men, carrying Ras’ limp form at waist height. “Sir, where would you like this deposited?”

“On the fainting couch,” Hal said. “That feels appropriate.”

With Ras draped over the furniture, the men nearly exited the room before Hal called out to them, “I do believe it to be well past time for supper, Dayus. If you would be so kind as to prepare something for Miss Tourbillon and myself to enjoy in the study, I would be most obliged.”

Dayus nodded, then promptly exited the room.

Callie stared at Ras’ limp form before turning back to Hal. “What about him?”

“If he rouses, we’ll have a third plate made up,” Hal said, “but for the meanwhile, you look like you could use a good story.”

The snap returning Ras’s left arm into its socket brought him back to consciousness with a scream. He shot up from the fainting couch in Hal’s parlor.

“Would you care for some painkillers?” Dayus asked as he knelt next to the couch.

“Yes!” Ras said, still half screaming. “For the love of corn that is a…that is a…yes to painkillers, please.” The words didn’t come out of his mouth exactly how his brain had formed them.
 

The door from the hallway corridor opened and in walked Halcyon Napier. Ras’ blurred vision cleared enough to see Hal towering over him. Dayus rose to leave, and Ras attempted to stand but immediately fell back down on the couch.

“No. Please. Sit,” Hal said with a touch of sarcasm.

Ras looked about and realized it was fully daylight outside. “Where’s Callie?” Ras demanded.

A voice spoke directly behind him. “I’m right here, Ras. I’ve been here all night,” she said.

Ras whipped his head around to see her and had to steady himself for a moment as the room spun. She sat in a nearby armchair with one of Hal’s books sitting open in her lap.

“Yes, we had a riveting discourse over your disjointed body,” Hal said, “She’s quite the curious one.”

“Dayus mentioned painkillers,” Ras said, feeling nauseated.

“I believe he has already supplied those. He was likely asking retroactively for permission. They’re quite strong. I’m sure you’ll find your footing soon enough,” Hal said.

“I was telling Hal how you procured a ship so quickly,” Callie said.

“Oh, were you?” Ras said, concern creeping into his voice. For all her merits, Callie could be a bit of a storyteller and the truth didn’t always interfere with the details.