Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3) (24 page)

“What?”

“We have word that Peacock Rock is under attack.”

I looked at the darkness beyond the
letharan
veil again. “Even if we surfaced, we couldn’t take off in this storm. Unless it has passed?”

He gnashed his teeth and shook his head.

Neira had paused, listening to our conversation.

“Did you know Peacock Rock was under attack?” I asked.

She narrowed her eyes. “We do not call it that, but yes.”

“And you said nothing.”

She raised her chin, her eyes narrowed.

“How long have they been under attack?”

“For several hours.”

I straightened my shoulders. “If the Han is nearly as capable as you say, Garrett is in trouble.”

“Trust me,” Neira said, turning to walk away. “Garrett is more capable of pushing the Han back than you might think.”

I really didn’t think so. I’d saved Garrett’s life after I’d been instrumental in destroying his city. Egolda City. He’d taken the few survivors with him and formed what he now called Peacock Rock, a community that lived within the mountain in a small chain of islands. He’d agreed to stay because he and his people would be safe. The caves would protect them from the elements, would provide for them during the long winter, and would hide them, pretty much, from everyone. I jogged after her. “They’re a peaceful people, Neira.”

“You may think so, but they are there because I allowed them to stay. They were allowed because they proved themselves capable.”

“Garrett chose to be neutral.”

“In the fight between the Hands of Tarot and the Great Families. In the fight to protect our lands? I assure you. No.”

“How involved
are
you in our world?”

She looked at me out of the corner of her eye, but didn’t break stride on her way to the elevation platform.

One of my people disembarked, nodded once to me and walked purposefully to the market.

“Where is he going?” Neira asked.

“To collect Nix.”

She stopped at the platform and glared at me. “How does he know where to go?”

I smiled and wagged my eyebrows. I realized I should tell her, but it was nice, finally, to have
her
in the dark for once. If she pressed the matter, I’d tell her. But how she hadn’t made the connection of the falcons and our ability to share information was beyond me.

She turned back to the platform and boarded. “I’m going up. You go back to your ships.”

I stepped onto the platform with her. “If you’re planning a battle, I’m coming with you. Once this storm breaks, you’ll need my ships.”

She narrowed her eyes, but nodded.

A girl of about the age of eight or nine ran to us before the grate could close. “El’Asim! El’Asim! Come quickly.”

I frowned at her, not knowing who she belonged to. She had the look of El’Asim, though, with the clothes and the dark hair in twin braids, the dark skin, and dark eyes. “Where?”

The girl took Ryo’s hand and dragged him on the platform with us. “To the hospital.”

That got Ryo’s attention. He stopped balking and settled beside me. “It is Oki?”

The girl nodded, her dark braids bouncing with the effort. “Come see. Come see.” She grabbed the rope and tugged.

The elevator platform took us to the hospital and the four of us ran, Neira bringing up the rear. When we burst through the scarf walls, we found Oki sitting on a cot, Chie sitting on one side of her, grasping her hand, Kenta on the other side. Hitoshi stood not far off, keeping his eyes on the surroundings.

Ryo beat me to her cot and knelt, taking her free hand and pressing it to his mouth. “Oki.”

She extracted her hand from Chie and cupped his scarred cheek. “Ryo.”

He brought his forehead down to hers in the Family greeting.

She closed her eyes before pulling away. She studied his face, touching his burn scars lightly. “You lived.”

“I wish I had not,” he whispered.

I stood beside Chie and squeezed Oki’s arm, fighting back the guilt at having saved a life that hadn’t wished to be saved. But I felt that every time he said it. “You’re awake.”

Oki glanced at Kenta. “She was really going to execute me.”

“Yes.” There was so much to catch her up on and I didn’t want to do that while her health was still in question. “Did Doctor Derby or Keeley discover why you slept so long?”

Oki and Kenta exchanged a glance. She shook her head, biting her lips, the silver
letharan
baubles in her hair chiming with her movement. “I am fine now, that is all that matters.”

I touched the symbols that had denoted her status as ruler of the Ino people. So much had changed in the span of a day.

She pulled them from her ravaged black bun and stared at them. “She was never going to give Ino City to me, was she?”

I couldn’t shield her from the knowledge. There was no point. “No.”

“Makoto?”

I didn’t know how to say it nicely. “He’s pure of blood, pure Ino. We are nothing but the blood bastards she never wanted.”

But what did that mean, now that we knew about the nanites? Did it mean that his connection with the nanites was purer?

Or that he had the nanites in his system that hadn’t been reprogrammed by Bobprano—crap. I really couldn’t remember her name. The programmer. Did it mean that Makoto had the old programming? That he was being controlled by the people who wanted to destroy our world?

Oki released a harsh breath, staring up at the dried flax ceiling, her eyes rimming red. She breathed through her nose and shook herself. “She had a lover. We all knew of him.”

I had not, but that didn’t surprise me. It saddened me as my father had been loyal to her.

“She is going to give Ino City to a male.”

Ino City was matriarchal, which, when I’d been a kid, had puzzled me and infuriated me for Ryo, who was older and should have succeeded her. “It would appear so, unless she intends on living forever. You don’t know with her.”

A flicker of a smile flitted across her lips. “Quite so.”

I sat on the edge of the cot, then stood up again after nearly tipping it.

She moved her feet. “No, sit, Synn.”

I found a place where I wasn’t spilling the cot over. “What happened?”

Oki shook her head. “I knew things weren’t going to go well. Mother wasn’t pleased with the league’s decisions, but I didn’t think she had enough power. I had amassed quite the following. The people of Ino wanted to follow me. But she had me arrested. There was nothing anyone could do. Everyone has family. What will she do to the family members we left behind? Chie’s mother. Ino Izumi is a valued member of Mother’s council, but will her proven loyalty be enough? What of the others who are not as trusted? Will Mother kill them?”

“They’re here.” Though, I didn’t know if “here” meant they were any safer.

Kenta squared his shoulders, his gaze resting on Oki. “Our people are being interrogated, Synn. Why? Are we now prisoners of the Vash?”

I shook my head. They had enough on their shoulders. They didn’t need all the other information I had, too. “It is a precaution. We do this to all refugees we take in.”

“Have you taken in many?” Kenta demanded.

“Yes.” I took in a deep breath and met my sister’s blunt gaze. “I don’t have many of my own people left, but many flock to my banner. They want to join me, but have to be vetted first.”

A ghost of a chuckle escaped her. “Baby brother.”

Worry and anger raged through me. I’d discovered so much information in the past hour alone. The nanites. The Skyborne.

Oki lowered her gaze, her shoulders sagging. “She has her city back. She has seen your new ships, and she has a spy, probably many, in our ranks.”

Neira stepped just into my line of sight. “We have methods to ensure no spies enter our camps. Trust me, Ino Oki. We are well skilled in this.”

“I am no longer Ino,” Oki said fiercely.

Chie shook her head, her face bridled with anger and hurt.

“From now on, we are the Yasu Noriko.”

I blinked in surprise. Though, if I had been in her place, I probably would have done the same thing. I wouldn’t want to be associated with a mother willing and capable of sacrificing her own daughter.

Or decimating nearly an entire tribe—with her daughter and her son on board.

“Where did that come from?” I blurted out. Yasu Noriko was Adelic, so the same language as the El’Asim, which roughly translated to “peaceful law.” But it was just so random.

Oki raised her chin, her gaze lowered. “It is time I acknowledged I am half El’Asim.”

“Then why not take on the El’Asim name?”

“Because,” she said softly, “I am not El’Asim, either. I want a new start with a new name.”

Kenta nodded. “It is a good name.”

I couldn’t argue with it, but it did hurt that my sister did not want my name. “Well, at least you’re safe. We’ll let Neira and Carilyn sort through everyone to determine who are spies and who are safe and then we’ll find you a proper place on the League. It is where you belong.”

Neira cleared her throat.

I tipped my head to the side. “Then, Neira will decide where you are to be placed on the League.”

Oki smiled, then chuckled as she shared a glance with Neira. “We have many things to consider.” Her expression saddened. She gripped Ryo’s hand and released a long sigh. “We have a long, new path before us.”

“I have faith,” I said, not really feeling my words, unable to chase the Skyborne from my mind. “We’ll come up with a plan.”

She nodded, swallowing, her grip tightening on her brother’s hand. “Let’s create a plan that doesn’t get us all killed. We need to change our world, Synn. Now. We cannot continue to allow people like our mother to control our world.”

I whole-heartedly agreed.

M
Y SISTER WAS WELL.
T
HOUGH,
something nagged at me. Mother had dosed her with something to make her asleep for almost a day. That had to be a poison, right? It could have been a drug, I guessed, but why? What would the point have been? And when I’d asked Oki, she’d redirected the conversation.

My sister was in trouble. I didn’t know how bad or what kind. I simply hoped she’d find a way around whatever it was. I knew that hope was stupid, idiotic. I’d get her to tell me. She was the only sister I had left.

And our best weapon against Ino Nami. Or the star person controlling her. I had a hard time wrapping my head around this enemy. Who was I fighting?

“Have we heard anything from Peacock Rock?” I asked as I followed Neira out of the hospital. The mountainous island was riddled with caves and tunnels. And if Neira had taken a personal interest in it, then that mountain had to be significant. Maybe it was the location of the island to a bay of the Kiwidinok wildlands? I didn’t know. Maybe the tunnels wound underneath the ocean and actually connected Kiwidinok to Peacock Rock. The idea seemed preposterous.

But I’d just discovered star people, so I really needed to reassess my definition of the word “preposterous.”

Neira shook her head. “Peacock Rock will hail us if they need assistance.”

“No.” I’d learned a lot about Neira in the past couple of hours as well. “If the Han is attacking him, and if his position is as important as you say, then we need to assist.”

She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye, widening her stride. “The Han has been trying to gain Kiwidinok for years. He’ll be turned away. He always is.”

“What would you tell me if I said that?”

She glared at me.

“Why would he choose Peacock Rock? There are other islands closer. Koko Nadie would be a better string of islands to take.”

She tipped her head to the side in acknowledgement as she continued walking.

Her silence made me cautious. “What aren’t you telling me?”

She gave me the barest of head shakes.

So, maybe the tunnel system wasn’t as preposterous an idea as I’d originally thought. “He can get onto Kiwidinok through the tunnels of Peacock Rock. That’s why he’s attacking. That’s why you kept Garrett there, and that’s why you’re worried.”

Neira stopped and shoved her face in mine, her dark eyes hard and fierce.

“All this effort for pleron he can’t even use?”