Voyages of the Flying Dragon (13 page)

Well,
almost
everything else.

‘There is now no reason to return directly to Asheim, the captain has said.' The princess's grasp of the common tongue was almost perfect, but sometimes her phrasing was a little
odd, as if she was trying to make what she said fit into the rhythms of her native language.

Her abruptness was a bit of a shock. Lenis had been so wrapped up in his own worries that he had forgotten Anastasis only cared about one thing – killing Lord Butin. It was the one aspect of herself she had not given to Disma in exchange for the Lilim's power.

‘We were only going there to pick up Karasu's trail,' Lenis told her, his desire to be alone greater than ever. Talking with the princess always made him uncomfortable. He could feel just how
empty
she was, and she only ever said things that related to her single-minded desire. It was even worse when Disma was near, and he could feel the connection between them. It reminded him too keenly of the strange connection he had just shared with his sister, each half having to give something up in order to form the bond. ‘We know where Karasu is now, and we know what he wants … sort of.'

‘Butin is in Asheim.'

Lenis sighed. ‘Yes.' He lowered his head again and tried to walk past her.

She barred his way. ‘The captain promised me he would help me kill Butin if I gave you the dragon's egg.' There was no accusation in her voice, no emotion of any kind, but underlying it all was the single, pure desire for vengeance.

‘Where's Disma?' Lenis asked. As unnerving as it was to have the Lilim around, she could usually keep Anastasis quiet.

‘She is with the captain. They are talking about going north. Asheim is to the –'

Lenis's impatience gave way to his anger. ‘Look, I don't care about Butin. Nobody does! We've got more important things to worry about. Listen to yourself! “I want to kill Butin. I want to kill Butin.” We get it, okay? Just shut up! You're not even a real person any more. You're no better than a Demon!'

The princess flinched, ever so slightly. It was the barest tensing of muscles, so faint Lenis almost missed it. If Anastasis had been normal, had been filled with the usual whirling of human emotions, Lenis probably wouldn't have noticed the slight spark that ignited somewhere deep inside her. It lasted only briefly, to be drowned out by the strident chord of hatred she kept curled within, but it had been there, he was sure of it. Even in its brevity it had been intense, some profound fury so innate it had flared up when Lenis had snapped at her. She was a princess, after all, used to getting her own way, and here was an airship's boy, a former slave, trying to tell her what to do.

‘Just leave me alone,' Lenis muttered, the vehemence gone from his voice. As extreme as Anastasis's response had been, it was short-lived and buried far too deep. Lenis had troubles enough of his own without worrying about a spoilt Ostian princess, one who had willingly given up so much of herself in the pursuit of power. He pushed past her and continued on his way.

Missy watched her brother go, stung by his rejection. Kanu remained silent. His presence unnerved Missy. He had witnessed what had happened between the twins, had perhaps even
caused
it and its aftermath. Lenis had spurned their connection. Missy became aware of the cold biting her hand. She slipped her glove back on and flexed her fingers. As her brother disappeared from view she was left all but alone to contemplate what had just happened.

It had felt so natural at the time, just like when they had joined to take control of Raikō, but now that she was back in her own body she felt wretched, raw, as if her spirit-self had been wrung out, stretched thin, pulled apart. She didn't seem to sit right in her own body. She had to get her mind off it, so she focused instead on the strange boy standing beside her.

‘Kanu.' Her voice sounded strange to her own ears. ‘Do you know what that man, Karasu, was doing in the temple?'

‘No,' he replied. ‘He tried to hurt Mashu.'

Missy sighed. ‘He did. You stopped him.'

Kanu grinned as he nodded. His mouth extended a little wider than a normal human's. ‘I will protect Mashu. I will serve Mashu.'

‘Thank you for helping Lenis, but you don't have to serve anybody.' Missy wondered again what Kanu was. He wasn't human, or Totem, or Jinn, or Bestia, or Lilim, or anything else she knew about. He had once served the sea god, Apsu, and now he served the Clemens twins. The thought made her head spin. For some reason the god of the sea had charged Kanu with serving the Clemens twins. There was no way to know how long ago that was or how long Kanu had been trapped in that pillar of ice. What did Karasu want with him? More disturbing, how had the mercenary known he was there?

Kanu drew his heavy brows together. ‘I am a Titan. I will serve Mashu.'

Missy sighed. How was she supposed to respond to that? ‘Come on, Kanu. The captain will probably want to speak with you now that you can … um … talk back.'

Kanu nodded and fell into step behind Missy as she made her way back down the jetty. It felt odd, having him follow along behind her. She kept craning her neck to look at him.

Eventually, she snapped, ‘Why don't you walk next to me?'

‘I will.' Kanu obeyed as though Missy had given him a direct order, which only made her feel worse. It was the town
square all over again. She didn't
want
to tell people what to do. What right did she have to order anyone around? The fact that Kanu seemed perfectly happy to follow her commands made her feel no better. She had seen slaves like that back in Pure Land. She had
been
a slave too, eager to please, to prove she was worth something. No, not just
something
. To show them all that she was worth more than they had paid for her. She didn't like being reminded of that, and she hated that someone was acting that way towards
her
, as if she were no better than a slave owner. Nothing had gone right since she had seen that smoke!

As they approached the gate Missy saw Heidi leaning against the stone wall, clearly waiting for her. She didn't want to deal with the Heiliglander just now, but she knew she couldn't put it off. Missy needed to make sure she hadn't harmed Heidi when she helped bolster her mental defences, and there was also the question of whether or not Heidi would want her assistance taking them down. Missy
had
promised to help her however she could. Maybe this was all she could do for her.

The guards averted their eyes as Missy walked through and Heidi fell into step beside her. At least the girl hadn't told everyone the truth about Missy not being Magni yet. That was something else Missy would have to deal with eventually, but the longer that was put off the better.

For a long time the three walked in silence. Kanu seemed perfectly content with it, but Missy grew increasingly agitated. How was she going to explain to Heidi what she'd done inside
the girl's mind? Would she understand what Missy had done to her? Missy didn't even really know herself. She'd always considered her telepathy to be a tool for communication, but hadn't she used it to coerce those people in the square? Maybe that had nothing to do with the Quillblade after all. Perhaps it was a part of her gift to make people do things. Missy shuddered inside her thick clothing. That wasn't the sort of power she wanted.

‘You can't keep moping around like that,' Heidi suddenly whispered.

Missy stopped in her tracks. ‘What?'

‘You don't look or act anything like a god, much less the great Magni. If you're going to convince anyone you're the Lightning-Wielder you're going to have to do a better job of it.
I
was able to figure it out fairly quickly. The others will too if you aren't careful.'

Missy was stunned. She couldn't believe what she was hearing. Heidi was actually encouraging her to trick her own people into believing Missy's lie! But why?

‘I said stop that!' Heidi chided. ‘You think Magni would stand around in the middle of the road with her mouth gaping open like that? You're supposed to be a goddess of war!' Missy clamped her mouth shut. ‘That's a bit better.'

‘What are you talking about?' Missy whispered, fearful someone would come by and overhear them.

Heidi looked at her for a long moment. ‘There's this war coming with the Demons, right?'

Missy wracked her memory. Had she told Heidi that? Yes, she'd told her all about Ishullanu and his plans for the Demons. ‘That's right.'

‘And Karasu is working for the Demon King? That's what you said.'

Now Missy was really confused. Had she really? She couldn't recall. All she knew was that she had tried to tell Heidi about the
Hiryū
's voyage, and that she had been too tired to really pay attention to her own story. Had she somehow implied that Karasu and Ishullanu were connected?

‘Don't you get it?' Heidi demanded. ‘If this Demon King starts a war with humanity, it's going to affect
all
of us!'

‘Yes, but –'

‘Didn't it ever occur to you to
warn
us about it?'

Missy felt her mouth hanging open again and closed it. ‘But we're going to stop it.'

Heidi snorted. ‘And if you don't? Look, all of a sudden I'm starting to see things clearly, you know? And what I see is that Karasu is working for the Demon King by trying to stop you from getting these orbs or stones or whatever they are that you need so you can fight against him, but what about the rest of us, Missy? This war isn't going to wait for you to get these magic rocks. Karasu already started it when he destroyed –' a blank look flashed across Heidi's face and vanished just as suddenly ‘– the war has already begun!'

Missy knew she had to put a stop to this. She didn't remember telling Heidi that Karasu was working for
Ishullanu, but it wasn't fair to let her keep thinking there was a connection. Whatever the mercenary was after, Missy doubted it had anything to do with the Demon King and his coming war, and Heidi's sudden clarity was disturbing, too. Missy thought she knew where it came from. ‘Heidi, wait, I think you should –'

‘I don't know what's going on here.' Heidi turned aside and started pacing backwards and forwards across the road. ‘I don't know who Karasu is. I don't know who Ishullanu is.' With each point she gesticulated more wildly with her arms. ‘I think Fronge just got caught up in the middle of something. Something big. Whatever it is, we're not ready for it.'

Missy was trying to follow the girl's thoughts, but they were all over the place. She was drawing connections, making plans, fitting her ideas together in various combinations. What she wasn't doing was factoring in the horrors of what she had seen in Fronge. Those images were absent from her mind, and with them the emotional connections Heidi should have been making but wasn't. It was as if they didn't factor into her thinking, which, Missy realised with a sickening feeling, they probably didn't.

‘Me. Fronge. Heiligland. All of us!' Heidi continued her rant. ‘None of us are ready. Look at what happened to Fronge. There was no resistance. Karasu took the town in a single morning. We aren't ready to fight this, but
you
are.'

‘Heidi, please –'

‘They'll listen to you!' Heidi stopped pacing and rounded on Missy. ‘Don't you see? They think you're Magni, the goddess of war. If you call them to arms, they'll listen. They'll prepare for war!'

Missy was finally starting to make sense of the girl's raving. ‘You want me, as Magni, to tell your people to prepare for war?'

‘Of course!' Heidi grabbed her shoulders, just as she'd done back in the tunnels under Njord's temple. Missy glanced at Kanu, but the boy stood, silently watching the exchange. ‘Please! They'll listen to you. They have to!'

There was no mistaking Heidi's sincerity. Once more Missy found herself staring into the girl's eyes. The feeling of hopelessness began to rise in her again, but this time she thought about Heidi's words. Could she do it?
Would
they listen to her? The Warlord of Shinzō was preparing for the coming war with the Demons, but he could do little alone. If they had any hope of defeating Ishullanu, they were going to need more allies.

The idea was tempting, but to pull it off Missy would have to keep deceiving people, to make them believe that she was a god. She would have to pretend that what Karasu did to Fronge was part of Ishullanu's plan. She would have to keep lying to Heidi, to make her believe that the Demons were ultimately responsible for Karasu's actions. It was tempting, so very tempting, but there was something wrong about it. Missy was filled with doubt. How could she do such a thing?
How could she take advantage of Heidi's pain like that? But there was no pain. Heidi had blocked it out, forgotten it, sealed it deep inside herself. Missy knew the girl would never be talking like this if she hadn't. To Heidi's new way of thinking, Fronge was little more than a strategic misstep. And Missy was at least partially responsible for that.

‘You're not thinking clearly,' Missy said to her, staring into her eyes, trying to make her see.

‘I've never been able to think so clearly in my life.'

‘And you don't see that as a problem?'

Heidi shook her head. ‘Not really. Ever since you helped me in that chamber I knew –'

‘What?'

‘I was there, Missy. It happened in my head. After what Karasu did to Fronge, I was destroyed. Can't you understand that? I couldn't function. I was shutting down. The grief was so strong I felt as though my throat was going to close up and suffocate me. I tried to block it out, to be strong, and when you came, great Magni,' Heidi chuckled, ‘I drew strength from you, that you would choose me to lead you. But you aren't a god, and when I found that out my resolve faltered. In the chamber I could feel myself crumbling again, but god or not you were still there and somehow made me strong again. And now it's just … gone. I don't have to fight so hard to block it out. You did that for me.'

Heidi hadn't released her this whole time. Missy felt trapped by her gaze. ‘B-but we can take down the barrier and –'

Heidi gave her a little shake. ‘Don't you dare. I don't want to take it down. Not ever. It's not hurting me and I don't want to have to deal with what's behind it. I like the fact you took that pain away from me. I
thank
you for it. But will you help me now, like you promised? Will you lend Magni's power to the people of Heiligland?'

It was a good plan. Missy could see how it could work. They had to stop Ishullanu, after all. They couldn't do it alone. If they could stir up the Heiliglanders' outrage, convince them that Magni was calling them to war to avenge the people of Fronge, then they would gain a valuable ally in the coming war. Wasn't it worth it?

‘All right,' Missy said, and Heidi's grasp tightened. ‘I'll do it.'

But a part of Missy quailed inside her.

Heidi stepped back abruptly, and Missy rubbed her shoulders. The girl had already left bruises there the last time she had grabbed her.

‘Good.' Heidi turned and kept walking as though nothing had happened.

‘Are you sure you're all right, though?'

Heidi glanced back over her shoulder. ‘Definitely. Now come on. We need to get you ready. You can't speak to everyone dressed like that. You look like a child.'

Missy blushed and hurried to catch up with the Heiliglander. ‘Wait a minute. We have to speak to the captain about this.'

‘Why?'

‘Because he's my captain. I can't just go off on my own.'

‘Fine.'

Half an hour later Captain Shishi stood on the bridge and looked at the two girls in silence. He had listened to Heidi's plan without comment and was now considering it. A part of Missy hoped he would spurn the idea and give her an excuse to pull out. He would demand she reveal the truth to Heidi, that Ishullanu had nothing to do with what Karasu had done. Heidi would be furious that Missy had manipulated her, but she would understand. She had to. The whole thing was madness! No one would ever truly believe Missy was a god. Not for long, anyway.

Her desire to come clean warred with the knowledge that the people of Heiligland
had
to be warned about the coming war. Would they believe her if they didn't think she was Magni? Would they turn to face the Demons if they knew the truth, or turn their attentions to hunting down Karasu? The deception was the only way of making sure they were prepared.

‘The idea has merit,' the captain said at last. Missy translated for Heidi, who grinned in response, but Missy's own heart sank. What would the captain think of her for manipulating the Heiliglanders? She suddenly realised that what he thought of her was pretty important. ‘I have perhaps been too focused on our own mission to consider the wider repercussions. With Apsilla now gone, Ishullanu could launch his offensive at any time and from any quarter. Humanity
must be prepared to meet him when the time comes. Miss Clemens, when we reach Erdasche you will have your chance to convince Duke Freyrsson that you are Magni.'