Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3) (47 page)

“How do we know this?”

“The Vash,” Jamilah said simply. “They saw the capture, but made no move to retrieve.”

“The storm.” I closed my eyes and thumped my head against the wall behind me. My Mark twisted with a sharp pain in my shoulder blades. I moved to relieve the pressure off of them. “I don’t know if I’m relieved or concerned.”

“I am relieved,” Jamilah said bluntly. “I didn’t like having the woman on my ship.”

I snorted. “Your ship.”

“Yes, mine. You forget, your leader of all our ships, but the
Layal
belongs to me.”

Quite so. “Any word from Neira?”

“She was injured. They took the hardest hit. Few survived.”

“What happened?”

“Shankara.”

I frowned and waited for the thunder to recede so Jamilah could continue. The wind went from a growling howl to a whining shriek.

“Shankara surfaced in the bay just south of their location and started bombing them.”

“Using their planes?”

“No. Their planes were engaged elsewhere.”

“Rose?”

“Is fine. We lost Bennen, though.”

I breathed and let the information settle over me. We were going to lose men and women in a battle, especially one this big. That we hadn’t lost more was a shock.

“Shankara fired long-range missiles.”

“That
had
to be long-range for them to reach Neira’s location from the
bay.
”

“Something we haven’t seen yet.”

“Possibly worth looking into.”

“Without a doubt.”

“Is Neira safe?”

“Yes. Ryo’s plasma cannons took Shankara out of the battle, but then, Shankara was fired upon from below.”

I frowned. We didn’t have any ocean units. “Enhnapi?”

“Even if they happened to traveling to that bay, they would only now be reaching it. No.”

“Then, who?”

“We don’t know.”

The thunder rumbled further away like a grumbling old man. The wind continued to scream through the tunnel.

“The rest of our fleet?”

“All ships except for the
Layal
and the
Basilah
are safely above the storm.”

Thunder crashed. It subsided, then boomed, rattling my chest until I felt the need to cough. It sputtered, ripped and tore the air. Lightning pierced the chimney, touching my lava.

My body tightened and arched as if something else possessed it.

An explosion of sound knocked small rocks from the walls.

The power of the lightning released me. My lava retreated back to my shoulders.

The rocks cascaded around us.

The rain from earlier ceased.

I lay on the floor in a crumpled heap, my entire body aching. Fire laced a path from my shoulder blade to my right foot. My right shoulder refused to move. My right ear heard nothing. My left ear barely accepted sound either.

“He is breathing,” Haji said, his voice painful and soft at the same time. “But the lightning made contact with him. He needs to be seen by a healer.”

I rolled onto my back, thunder cracking the air with a painful beat. I couldn’t hear the wind anymore. It blended with the buzzing in my ear. I closed my eyes as the rain, a softer rain, a warmer rain, fell through the window in a mist. After a battle like that, I was taken out by a bolt of lightning.

Ironic.

Chie stared at the carnage around her. They’d gone to retrieve Oki’s
lethara,
but had been trapped on Enhnapi. They’d been on board the city when it arrived at Peacock Rock.

They’d spent the time it took to travel back to Kiwidinok talking. Oki told her of the processes, what a leader needed to pay attention to. She passed on as much information as she could.

Chie had only been partially listening. It had seemed impossible. Who in this world would give
her
a leadership position? They’d changed into the clothes of the El’Asim. The pants fit tight, but protected her legs in a way that was unfamiliar and comforting at the same time. The flowing blue skirt went only to her knees, leaving her with a sense of being naked. The loose blouse, the tight vest? Foreign.

But Oki had been happy.

Happy.

Then, Enhnapi was attacked. Attacked under the water. Chie knew who had done it. The only people who possibly could. The LeBlancs. But why?

She didn’t have an answer.

Blood stained Oki’s pink blouse, had billowed along her violet vest. Her chest had stilled long ago, or maybe only a short while ago. Chie didn’t know.

The shelling had stopped as quickly as it had started. The
lethara
no longer wailed. That was good.

People looked to her. They asked her questions. What were they to do?

Hitoshi looked to her, his brown almond-shaped eyes waiting for direction.

They looked to her, but all she could do was stare at her best friend, the person who had been born to lead, who had been trained to lead, who had no problems standing in front of people and providing that direction.

Her friend whose life had bled from her before the poison could fully destroy her organs, ending her life slowly and painfully.

Pain wracked Chie’s chest. What was she supposed to do?

You know what to do
, Oki’s voice said inside her mind.

Chie raised her head and searched the people pressed in a tight circle around her, the splinters of dried flax dangling over people’s heads, the flailing
lethara
limb that had been severed.

You know what to do
, Oki’s disembodied voice said once again.
You trained beside me. All the instruction I received, you did as well.

Chie blinked her gaze down to Oki’s bloodied face.
I am weak.

You are the only one who thinks it.

Chie shook her head.
Everyone thinks it because I am.

No.
A strange chill cupped both of Chie’s cheeks.
Everyone sees what you allow them to see. You have always hidden behind the mask that was provided to you. My mother expected you to be nothing, demanded you be nothing.

That was all true. And why? Because she was nothing.

You are amazing.

No. She wasn’t. She was terrified.

So was I.

Chie touched Oki’s cold chin with her trembling fingertips. Oki? Afraid?

Every day. Every day someone asked something of me. Every day someone needed direction from me. Every day I had to be in the front.

It hadn’t shown.

No. I hid behind my face as you hid behind your societal caste.

Something bloomed in Chie. Frustration at the limitation that had been cast upon her due to her birth. Anger at being invisible.

Then stop being invisible. I have faith in you.

You should have given the leadership to someone else. Kenta.

My husband is many things, but a ruler of a city as grand as yours will be? No. Our people need the hand of a woman to guide them.

Chie studied Oki’s face, wishing it alive.

They need your ferocious love, Chie. They need your temerity, your resilience. They need your foresight.

Chie swallowed.

The strange chill slipped away from her cheeks.
It’s time for me to leave, now, but understand this. I made the right choice.

Chie frowned, but didn’t argue.

Lead our people, Chie. Don’t let Mother win. Trust my brother, but guide him as well. He needs your guidance as I did.

Chie gripped Oki’s frozen hand.
Don’t go. Not yet.

Oki’s voice chuckled.
I couldn’t stay forever even if I wanted. You will do well, my truest friend. Let your people see you as I do.

Chie straightened as the chill disappeared from the air, replaced by a humid warmth, and Oki’s voice, her presence, left her.

Oki had counted on her. She wouldn’t let her down.

Aiyanna went from one cot to the next, checking on their patients. Surprisingly, there hadn’t been many. A couple dozen, but no casualties.

The storm raged outside their lopsided ship. Thunder crashed. The walls and floors vibrated. The wind pushed at them. But the ship remained intact.

Keeley met her gaze two cots away and smiled.

A cold hand touched her arm.

Aiyanna turned and looked down to the small girl. “Yes?”

“You are wanted at command,” she said, her voice confident.

“Thank you.” Aiyanna turned back to Keeley. “I’m needed at command.”

Keeley waved her away, her red hair glinting in the low light. “We’re fine.”

Aiyanna removed the apron from around her waist and headed for the stairs that led to the command room. Once she’d closed the door behind her and sealed it shut, she searched for Jamilah with a frown.

She finished speaking to one of the technicians, straightened and walked toward Aiyanna.

Her scarred expression was severe. Her hands clasped behind her back.

That couldn’t be a good sign. “What is it, Commander?”

Jamilah closed her eyes and pointed her face to the side, her lips straight. Opening her eyes, she said, “Jamilah. You may always call me Jamilah.”

“But you are my commander.”

“No.” Her soft smile was pierced by the fierceness of her scar. “You are not my crew. You are Synn’s.”

Aiyanna frowned and dropped her gaze. Always the outsider. Raising her eyes with a deep breath, she fastened on a smile. “Why was I called?”

Jamilah straitened her shoulders. “Synn was struck by lightning.”

Her heart hammering, Aiyanna reached out a hand involuntarily. “Is he all right?”

“We believe so, but he has lost consciousness. By all accounts, he should be fine.”

“But he was struck by lightning.”

“He is Synn.” Jamilah said bluntly. “Many things that should not be possible are with him.”

Thunder cracked and seemed to chuckle as it rippled through the air outside the dome.

“There is more.” Jamilah opened her mouth, then closed it again, lowering her head.

“What?” Worry ate at Aiyanna. They’d entered a massive battle, the biggest she’d ever seen. Anything was possible.

“Hehewuti, your high priestess, has been killed.”

The air left Aiyanna’s lungs.

The heat fled from the air.

Sound stopped as though it had been sucked into a great vacuum of space.

Jamilah let her hands fall to her sides. “Enhnapi was attacked by the LeBlancs. Somet—”

Aiyanna held up a hand to stop her. “I thought the Han had fled.”

“He had. Ino had fled, as well as Shankara. But someone attacked Shankara. It had to have been LeBlanc. But after that, Enhnapi, and another
letharan
city were attacked in a bay to the east. I’m sorry.”

Aiyanna shook her head. This couldn’t be possible. The high priestess had survived uncountable turns, at least a hundred years. No one knew how old she was exactly.

Dead. Aiyanna forced herself to breathe.

She would have to inform Sky City.

But she couldn’t shake herself from the chill of shock as the thought that the woman she’d looked up to her entire life was gone. She couldn’t imagine the changes that would overtake the Hands of Tarot without her guidance. What would they do?

Only Tarot knew.