Skybuilders (Sorcery and Science Book 4) (4 page)

Leonidas stumbled back, nearly tripping over his bed. “Stop plundering through my head,” he growled through clenched teeth, gripping his head tightly with both hands.

“Spit it out, and I won’t have to.”

The spy let out a melodramatic sigh. “It happened not long ago, just a few months before Ambrose Selpe’s death. I’d been stationed in Lear for just under a year. At first, I thought it was a promotion. It turned out to be nothing of the sort. But slowly I began to gather intelligence on my halfwitted Avan counterpart. One day, I was given the task to steal some mysterious technological doodad that Corse had gotten his hands on. I was sure that if only I could succeed, I’d be promoted out of that horrid hellhole. I had the piece
in my hands
, but it was stolen by an Elition pair before I could deliver it to my superiors.”

“Two women?” Ariella asked.

“A man and a woman. The woman seduced me, then she and her husband partner stole it. Seduced
me
. Stole from
me
.”

So that’s what this was about. The suave Selpe spy didn’t take well to being beaten at his own game. He considered seduction and theft to be his sole domain. The Elition pair had wounded his ego.

“You’re being a bit superficial, don’t you think?” said Ariella. “Surely, you can’t dislike all Elitions simply because two of us once embarrassed you.”

“And cost me my promotion.”

“Is this for real?” Ariella asked Silas.

“He’s definitely still upset about the incident, though I suspect there’s more to the story than he’s letting on. Even Leonidas Chase is not that self-absorbed.”

“Oh, yes I am!” protested the spy. At a hard look from Silas, he unclenched his fists and sat down on the edge of his bed. “But I do regret my part in Lady Cassandra’s power play.”

Because he did not like being manipulated.

“My career has only suffered since.”

And that too.

“I don’t enjoy being a wanted man. It doesn’t suit my temperament.”

“How would you like to go home?” Silas said.

“Uh-huh. Right. I wouldn’t make it two steps into the Selpe Empire before the Diamond Edges hauled me off to one of Lord Adrian’s secret dungeons. I’ve met Aaron Pall, and he’d give even
you
a run for your money, Silas. He’s a twisted bastard, and his creativity with a blade is just downright unnerving. I have no desire to be tortured by the likes of him. I think I’ll just stay right where I am, thank you very much.”

“Don’t you find it ironic that you’re now hiding yourself behind the very people you profess to hate?” asked Ariella.

“As I told you, I don’t hate Elitions.” His sigh was heavy and deep. “I said I made a mistake. What more do you want? Shall I apologize to every Elition I meet for the rest of my life?”

“As amusing as that would be to watch, I have a more suitable redemption in mind for you,” Silas replied.

“Let me guess. It involves impossible odds and certain death.”

“Nothing so dramatic. Merely slim odds and probable death.”

Leonidas frowned. “Fabulous. What’s the suicide mission?”

“Two days ago, Hayden and Ian Selpe went on a visit to the Hellean floating city of Oasis. Yesterday, just one day into their trip, there was an explosion in one of the labs. They are now missing. We are going up there to find them.”

“Is that all?”

“Members of the Crescent Order were seen entering the city. We believe they were sent in to finish the job. We’ll stop them,” Silas said.

“The Crescent Order? They’re worse than the Diamond Edges.” Leonidas stood and began to pace. “Worse than you, Silas.” He tapped his fingers against the wall as he moved. “I think I’ll pass. Even a chance at an imperial pardon is not worth that.” He turned his back on them.

“Marin was with them,” Ariella told him.

Leonidas swiveled back around so fast that he nearly tripped over his own feet. “What?”

“Marin was with Hayden and Ian Selpe in Oasis when an explosion blew a big hole in the city,” she clarified. “She’s also missing.”

Silas watched Leonidas’s jaw shift, setting into stubborn determination. Marin was reason enough. He was going to do it. He was going to risk his life to save hers. Leonidas kicked a cracked tile in the floor with the toe of his pristine shoe.

“I’m going to need the stuff the guards confiscated from me when I was brought here.”

CHAPTER FOUR

~
Secrets and Spies ~

526AX August 20, Auster

THERE WAS ONLY one way to get to a floating city, and that was to fly there. Since that didn’t seem to be on the very long list of Elition superhuman powers, Ariella and Silas had nominated Leonidas to solve this minor problem. That was what Silas had called it.
A minor problem.
And then he’d handed Leonidas a mere two thousand Crowns to fix it. As it turned out, the crazy Elition actually did have a sense of humor.

All this time, I must have been confusing Silas’s demented stare with his tickled-pink stare
, thought Leonidas as he slunk down the back alley.

Airships were not taxis. They had their designated routes, and they didn’t deviate from them. Period. Leonidas could no more bribe the pilot to make a detour to Oasis than he could buy his own airship. Only the very richest Selpe lords could afford that indulgence.

The other way to fly was with a plane, but those were the sole domain of the military. The sale of them was highly restricted. The only people who could get their hands on one were highly ranked officers or aristocrats with enough money to pay off all the right people. Neither of which applied to the three of them. Nonetheless, Leonidas knew his best bet was still an airplane. Or more specifically, his best bet was to borrow an airplane from his old friend Darren Hollen in the city of Auster. There were only two problems with that.

First, Auster was a Selpe city, and Leonidas was not entirely certain his likeness had not been plastered all over the empire, right up beside the wanted posters of colorful characters such as the Rev pirate called ‘Ryder’ and the notoriously nefarious Elition assassin Jason Chanz.

Second, Darren was a former colleague in the Selpe Intelligence Network. Leonidas was pretty sure his poster
did
hang on the board at the Auster SIN office—and on the board at every other one in the empire. He had been, after all, one of their own, and the Selpe Intelligence Network did not look kindly on fallen spies.

Leonidas passed the backside of the Auster SIN office, a white concrete box building that blended in seamlessly with the other white concrete box buildings in that sector of the city. The houses along the waterfront boasted reds and oranges and yellows, but once you moved past that inviting facade, it was nothing but a ring of unimaginative grey, fading away each block until by the time you reached the center of Auster, the houses shone a uniform white. Leonidas slipped on his sunglasses to mitigate the blinding effect of a harsh afternoon sun bouncing off a sea of white sugar cubes.

A few blocks past the office, the alley dead-ended at a building of palace-like proportions. The street fed into a trio of broad steps that led up to a square platform with red doors on three sides. Over the entrance read the word ‘Pulse’. On each of the doors, a different symbol was stenciled in gold: a fork, a pillow, and a high-heeled shoe. Even for Darren, it was too early to hit the dance club or hotel, so Leonidas turned the knob of the door with the fork and went inside. A long hall, lined with pictures of famous people who’d visited Pulse since its establishment two hundred years ago, brought him to the building’s west wing.

A restaurant decorated to resemble a boat took up that entire section of the building. Echoing thumps reverberated beneath Leonidas’s boots as he walked across the wooden deck to a spiraling staircase made of the same material. He coiled his way up, passing a level dotted with flat-topped treasure chests refashioned to serve as tea tables.

On the next level, Summerland territory banners and Selpe imperial banners hung from clotheslines in an alternating pattern. The pale blue strings dripped down from ceiling beams. Down below on the ground were rows of tables, each one a different height, each one resembling the plank of a pirate’s ship.

The curling line of tables on the third level up coiled in toward the staircase like the pattern on a snail shell.

On the fourth level, the window fronts together formed one gigantic aquarium, and schools of fish swam the stream in a never-ending loop around the diners.

As Leonidas’s head crested the top of the staircase of the final level, he was flooded with a spectacular panoramic view of the bay and the city. Booths made of artistically faded wood lined the outer edge of the room, and a bar was set up just beside the stairs.

At the moment, there were but two diners, sitting at opposite ends of the room. Leonidas gave the redhead in an ink-black skirt suit an appraising once-over before turning to walk over to Darren. His friend sat facing the room, with his back against the cushioned corner and his eyes glued to a well-worn paperback. Leonidas read the title off the spine and chuckled to himself.

“You know, ten years is a long time to spend on a single book,” he said.

Darren’s olive-green eyes panned up from the page. “It depends on the book.”

Leonidas tilted his head.

“Classics of philosophy are meant to be slowly digested,” said Darren.

Leonidas gave him an indulgent nod.

“To be thought-provoking.”

Leonidas smiled.

“Oh, what do you know, you ignorant buffoon! Your idea of a thought-provoking book is one that contains explicit photos,” Darren hissed, throwing the old book at him.

Leonidas caught it in his hand just long enough to toss it back. “Or illustrations.” He grinned. “I’m not at all particular.”

Shaking his head, Darren stacked the book on top of his bag. “All right, you scoundrel. You might as well sit down before Amelia looks up from her peppermint tea long enough to figure out who you are.”

“Amelia?”

“The redhead you’ve been ogling at since you stepped foot in the room.”

“Was I that obvious?”

“When are you not obvious, Leonidas?” countered Darren.

“True,” Leonidas allowed, adding, “But the girls like it that way.”

Darren sighed. “Not that one. She may be easy on the eyes, but I swear she’s a demon’s spawn. If it meant a promotion, she’d turn you in in a heartbeat. Hell, she’d turn me in too.”

“And am I worth a promotion?”

“Nah, you’re not that spectacular. But your picture is up on the board.”

“A flattering one, I hope.”

“The one taken seven-and-a-half years ago outside the Castrated Pig in Cypress.”

Leonidas cringed. He’d been so wasted that night. Actually, he’d been completely wasted the entire trip. It was the week his and Darren’s younger and much stupider selves had personally discovered the secret of Cowboy Cocktails. The drinks scorched on the way down because one of the territory’s sadistic bartenders had come up with the idea to mix fire root and a bunch of other Elition drugs into them. Hallucination-inducing drugs. Leonidas and Darren had woken up one morning in a dirty alley outside the city with absolutely no memory of the previous twelve hours. As they dragged their reeking bodies and muddled minds back to their hotel, they’d agreed to swear off those cocktails forever.

“I suppose they wanted something that made me look feral,” Leonidas said.

“Yeah, well, you know how it goes. A crazy sociopath in rags makes a better villain than a well-groomed gentleman in a pressed suit.” Darren slapped him on the shoulder. “Your poster looks right at home next to the one of Jason Chanz.”

Ariella and Silas had met the assassin, but Leonidas had managed to avoid that honor so far. Still, dealing with Elitions was messy business. They were like some kind of gang, and they
all
seemed to know one another. Sooner or later, it was inevitable that his group would cross paths with Jason Chanz. He dreaded that day. There would probably be bodies. Lots and lots of bodies.

“Leonidas,” Darren said seriously. He looked around, then lowered his voice to a whisper. “Are you going to tell me how you ended up on that board? Because the Leonidas I know would never have betrayed the Empire.”

“It’s a long story. Suffice it to say, I thought I was acting in the best interests of the Empire, but I was only acting stupid. I was manipulated, used, and then discarded to the hounds. I’m trying to redeem myself. To clear my name. And that’s why I’m here, Darren. I need your help.”

“The Selpe Intelligence Network,
my
employer
, considers you a criminal. I’m supposed to apprehend you. Or shoot you on sight. They’re not too particular about it. I’m most certainly not supposed to help you. Just by talking to you here, I risk being labelled as an accomplice and having my poster stuck to the board right next to yours.”

Leonidas swore that when this was all over and his name was finally cleared, he would track down Lady Cassandra and shoot that vile harpy in the head. She’d played them all like puppets, and when her scheme was thwarted, she managed to escape her prison cell, leaving her few remaining loose ends to rot or to die. She’d even had her lover’s head blown off, which made Leonidas thank his lucky stars that he’d never slept with her. You don’t dance the horizontal tango with someone and then turn right around and have him blown to bits. That’s just not good manners.

“You owe me on account of that nasty shooting incident in Timberland,” Leonidas told Darren.

“You’re not going to bring up that now, are—”

“I saved your life.”

“You bastard.” Darren showed his angry face, which made him look more constipated than scary. “What do you want?”

“I need to borrow an airplane.”

Darren looked as though he’d just asked for the moon. “Don’t ask for much, do you?”

Leonidas shrugged. “I wouldn’t waste that favor you owe me on just anything.”

Darren stared at him for several seconds, all the while scraping his teeth together. Finally, he said, “I don’t have an airplane to give you.”