Harbinger

A long breath seemed to go out of him. “Yes,” he ventured in a small voice.

A flicker of hope kindled in Zofiya, but she dared not examine it to closely. “You and I used to hate it when he did that, but he said it was to teach them a lesson when they had done something wrong.”

Kal nodded again, his eyes fixed on her.

“And do you remember what he said, when the dogs came back after being beaten?”

The Emperor leaned back against the gunwales for a second. “He said, ‘Give them some meat, so that they learn to like the taste of the whip.’”

It was a cruel and totally wrong message, but Zofiya hoped that it might reach her brother. Their father had certainly beaten the Princes mercilessly, so now maybe Kal would understand. She wasn’t sure about giving them some reward, but she just wanted him to come back with her to Vermillion as calmly as possible.

After a moment’s pause, she dared put a hand lightly on her brother’s forearm; she could feel his muscles tensing. “You’ve used the whip enough, Kal . . . Let’s go back home. Please . . .”

She hardly dared to breathe. It was hard for Zofiya to be gentle and supple. He did not move, and for a moment there was hope. At least for a heartbeat or two.

Then with a twist, he flung her hand off him. “You are with them,” he snarled, as his fists clenched at his sides. “I know what you’ve been doing, conspiring with the Deacons to take my Empire. I know,” he went on with a wicked smile, “that you have sat on my throne in Vermillion, hiding behind the word ‘regent’—like I am some child.”

Zofiya’s heart began racing. “No, Kal. No! That’s not it at all. Vermillion was a mess, the Empire is a mess, and I only wanted to assure them that I was there to protect them. That is what a regent does when the Emperor is not well—” She lurched to a halt, suddenly realizing what she had said was completely the wrong thing. Diplomacy had never been her strong suit.

Kaleva’s eyebrows drew together in a dark bow, and his mouth pressed into a hard thin line. “That’s what they said when they took the last Emperor off the throne!” he snarled. “They tried to install a regent at first. I think, Sister, you will find it not so easy to take my throne from me.”

Zofiya was caught between wanting to smack him in the face or to sob and plead for the return of the brother she loved. That indecision nearly cost her life.

“Imperial Highness!” One of the Guards behind them with a very familiar face broke ranks and held out his hand to her. “Run! They—” His warning was cut off by one of her brother’s soldiers effectively running him through with his saber.

However, the warning had triggered the Grand Duchess’ instincts. She sprang backward just as a long string of blue white lightning struck the space where she had been standing. She caught a glimpse of a man—not in any kind of uniform—standing by that curious machine. He was grinning, even though he had almost hit the Emperor as well as her.

Madmen! They were all madmen! Rifles were raised and pointed in her direction, but in the mass of Imperial Guards, chaos broke out. Brothers in arms, all clad in the red uniforms, began to wrestle and fight with one another.

For a moment, Zofiya contemplated tackling her brother and taking them both over the edge, but that would solve nothing for the Empire. Besides, the cracked-looking man at the machine was turning the narrow barrel of it in her direction again.

She ran, pushing off from the deck while hearing rifle fire begin to start up between the marines on both the Winter Kite and the Summer Hawk. The path to the gangway was blocked, so she grabbed hold of the rigging, cut a piece of it loose with her saber and then pushed off madly toward her airship. She had the impression of clouds wafting by, while bullets flew in her direction. For a second she was elated, and then Zofiya crashed into the deck of the Summer Hawk.

As soon as she was back on her feet, Zofiya realized it was not just her brother that had gone mad—so too had the situation.

The Deacons emerged from the depths of the airship, just as the crackle of her brother’s machinery was firing again. With capes fluttering in the growing breeze, the Deacons held up the flaming red shield, providing protection for those on the Summer Hawk from the mad machine. It became hard to see as red and blue energies sparked and flew everywhere. Bullets were, unfortunately, not stopped by the shield. Soldiers on both sides were falling.

Zofiya snatched up a rifle from a nearby marine and dropped into cover behind the wheelhouse. She found Captain Revele there, who despite bleeding from a wound in the leg was firing back enthusiastically.

She shot a glance at the Grand Duchess. “So it didn’t go quite as you thought then?”

Zofiya cradled the rifle against her shoulder and returned fire. “Unfortunately this is exactly how I imagined it going. I think now would be a good time to leave.”

Revele nodded and yelled orders over the rumble of battle to her crew, some of whom had managed to take shelter against the gunwales. “Cut the damn plank!”

While bullets flew and lances of power careened between the two airships, one spry lad wriggled his way to where the moorings were and sliced the rope that bound them to the Winter Kite.

It was by no means an escape. They were now twisting away from the other airship, but all it meant was that the form of the attack changed. No one on the Winter Kite wanted to set the Summer Hawk ablaze while it was tethered to the flagship. As the Hawk’s engines caught, and they turned to port away from their attacker, they also escaped out of range of the bullets. However, the cannons and whatever that damned machine was now came fully into play.

Zofiya raced to the Deacons, while Revele screamed for the Hawk’s armaments to be rolled out. Deacon Petav stood at the head of his little group, the light of the runes flickering on their now exposed arms. The Gauntlets and the Strop had been impressive enough, but there was something far more primal about seeing the runes in action on their flesh and skin.

The air smelled tangy and sharp, as if just after a lightning storm. It was something that had to have come from Kal’s new machines, because Zofiya had never encountered that odor before.

“Can you hold them off like that?” she demanded of Petav. Zofiya was certainly grateful to the Deacons for their protection, but she needed to know that it was something they could continue to supply. If they couldn’t, then this would most likely be the last flight of the Summer Hawk. The gasses in the ship’s envelope were not susceptible to flame, but the fine material could certainly be punctured.

Petav looked gray, which did not give her much cause for elation. If a Deacon could be shaken by what had just happened, then she hated to think what that might mean.

“A weirstone tinker machine,” he muttered, shooting a glance over his shoulder at his colleagues, who nodded in mute confirmation. “What fresh madness is this that—”

“Look,” Zofiya snapped, “we can discuss this horror later . . . say when we are safely back in Vermillion.”

The Deacon nodded, and his eyes grew glassy. The Grand Duchess knew that look very well; Merrick had worn it often when using his Center. “Go up.” His voice was slightly slurred as if he were drunk or had just woken up. “Take the fleet into the clouds.”

Up sounded like a fine idea, since getting hammered by their cannons and nameless machine was not something to be wished for.

Revele appeared at her side. Even in the midst of chaos her hat and uniform were still immaculate. Zofiya contemplated how strange it was the little things she noticed in a crisis.

“Deacon Petav says make for the clouds,” the Grand Duchess barked at her captain.

Zofiya and Revele turned and quickly scanned the scene. Their vessel was nearest the barrage from the Winter Kite, but the other airships in the Emperor’s Fleet were positioning themselves so that they too could bring their weapons to bear.

Revele quickly gave the circular spinning motion to her first mate, who was standing at the door to the bridge; he then ducked back in to give the order. The Summer Hawk began to rise sharply beneath her feet, so that all on her deck had to crouch a little or be thrown down. Zofiya felt as though her stomach had been left some hundred feet below, but at least the dire machine of her brother’s could not apparently fire upward very well. The blue white light spat beneath them, narrowly missing their hull.