Voyages of the Flying Dragon (20 page)

Drake whistled again. ‘She's feisty! Who's this one?'

For a time, Lenis allowed Drake's good-natured affection for the Bestia to flow around him. He forgot about his sister and their mission. When Ignis and Lucis both nipped Drake's ankles and sped off down the corridor, Lenis followed the boy as he chased them through the airship.

‘What's this?' Hiroshi demanded when they broke into the galley. Ignis ran along the top of his stove, and Lucis jumped onto one of the tables. The boys leapt after them, and Lenis knocked over a rack of Hiroshi's utensils. Suiteki awoke with a pitiful cry but soon sensed there was no danger about. She started out of her nest, half-wanting to be part of the game, but then decided she'd rather be warm and re-curled herself up to sleep. ‘Get out of here, you little rapscallions. I'll have both your hides, I tell you!'

Hiroshi brandished a ladle at them, but despite the cook's grim expression Lenis could sense that he was amused. Suiteki peeked out from between her coils, snorted, and closed her
eyes again. The Bestia and the two boys chased one another up the stairs and out onto the deck. As they emerged into daylight Shujinko appeared before them. Ignis leapt over his head and Lucis dashed between his legs. Lenis was laughing so hard he couldn't stop himself in time and nearly crashed into the cabin boy. He would have if Shujinko hadn't shifted his own weight and thrown Lenis over his shoulder to land heavily on his back on the deck. The pain in his ribs came back in force.

Lenis heard a high-pitched whistle.

‘What did you do that for?' Drake demanded.

‘Who are you?' Shujinko countered. Lenis propped himself up on his elbows and saw the
Hiryū
's cabin boy was in a fighting stance.

‘Shujinko, it's all right,' Lenis began. ‘This is –'

Drake cut him off. ‘Drake Florona's my name. What's your problem?'

‘Florona?' Shujinko turned his head slightly so that he could see Lenis. ‘A relative of Miss Florona?'

‘That's my big sis,' Drake went on. ‘Why did you have to knock Len over like that for?'

‘Len?'

‘If you want trouble, fella, you found it.' Drake raised his hands and coiled them into fists.

Shujinko regarded him for a moment and then said to Lenis, ‘You and your bodyguard should stop playing around.' He relaxed his stance. ‘We're scheduled for departure in fifteen minutes.'

‘
Dorns
!' Drake snapped. ‘I'd better go. Lucy'd leave me behind in a wink. Later, Len!'

The boy ran over to and down the gangplank before disappearing from view. Lenis got to his feet. ‘Nice throw.'

‘You should have dodged it.' Shujinko moved below decks.

Lenis turned to make his way to the rear hatch. Why did Shujinko have to take the fun out of
everything
?

Missy came awake slowly. Her eyelids were sticky, and it took her a moment to pry them open. She felt … something. It took her a moment to realise it was pain. For some reason it felt very far away. She tried to swallow but her throat was raw. Her whole body ached, and she was so tired she closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. She couldn't. The nagging sensation of soreness became more insistent. It seemed to draw closer.

Not now
, she thought, but her body gave her no respite. A moment later it was wracked by a spasm of agony. She cried out and began to struggle feebly.

‘Tcha.'

Something cool was pressed to her lips. The doctor held a wet rag to her mouth. Long Liu squeezed, and a tiny trickle of liquid seeped out of it. It wasn't enough to drink, just enough to moisten her tongue. She lapped feebly at the rag. Long Liu
took it away and brought it back. There was more moisture in it this time, and Missy sucked at it greedily.

‘Slowly now,' the doctor soothed. With his free hand he brushed the hair back from her face. ‘Slowly.'

Finally, Missy tugged her mouth away from the offered water. ‘What happened?' she tried to ask. It sounded more like a croak, but the doctor seemed to hear her.

‘Magic. Or as close to it as we're ever likely to see. The energy of the Quillblade.'

Missy shuddered as last night's events came back to her. Last night? How long had she been asleep? She tried to ask Long Liu but he shushed her.

‘Sleep now.'

Missy tried to keep her eyelids open but they were growing heavier. Reluctantly, she allowed the rocking of the airship to lull her back to sleep. She had just enough time to realise they were flying again before her dreams claimed her.

‘Mister Clemens, you are needed on the bridge.'

Lenis heard the captain's command echo through the speech tube and jumped to obey. They had left Erdasche in the middle of the morning, and it was now almost evening. Suiteki had made the move from the galley to the Bestia hutch, but had otherwise spent the entire day sleeping. This wasn't all that unusual, but Lenis was aware that the more she slept during the day, the more likely it was that she was going to wake him up that night.

As Lenis came out on deck he could see the southern coast of Heiligland approaching fast. He had been here before, during their flight to and from Asheim. The lights of a familiar airdock winked on the horizon.

Lenis turned from the sight to climb the steps to the bridge. The captain was standing with Tenjin near Kenji's chart-filled table. All three men looked as though they were in deep discussion, but they were speaking in Shinzōn and Lenis couldn't understand them. Shin was at the tiller, but Arthur was nowhere in sight. That was unusual. He was normally always on the bridge while the
Hiryū
was underway.

‘Ah, Mister Clemens.' The captain looked up and beckoned him over. ‘I am glad you are here. Your sister is still indisposed and we will need you and Lucis to help coordinate our docking procedure.'

Of course. Without their communications officer, the
Hiryū
would have a hard time finding a berth. Lenis could transmit messages using flashes of light from Lucis. It was a cumbersome way of communication, but it was the only option they had at the moment and it had sufficed the last time Missy had lain comatose in the doctor's cabin.

‘Are you discussing our course?' Lenis asked, nodding towards the map table.

‘Indeed. We are almost directly south of our destination. Come and see.' The captain motioned Lenis over to the table. On top of it was a map of Heiligland, weighted down in one corner by Kenji's pistol and at two others with metal rulers.
The fourth corner was pinned down by a half-filled mug of tea. ‘As you can see, Kolga's temple is only a short flight north.'

Lenis scanned the map. He found Erdasche easily and tracked their course north with his eyes. They were headed to an airdock directly across the straight. Above that was a line of mountains, and beyond these, circled in red, was a small X. Lenis should have guessed. It was in the middle of the Wastelands. They'd have to fly over the infested mountains to reach it. Lenis did a few calculations. The flight wasn't impossible, but it would put a strain on Aeris unless they landed during their flight. He was just wondering if he should use the dual-Bestia system to get them over the tainted ground faster, when the captain tapped a spot far to the west of Kolga's temple.

‘You see here?' the captain asked. ‘This entire stretch of land is healthy ground. It is almost entirely encircled by the Wastelands, but the Heiliglanders have a settlement here.' He then tapped a spot on the western edge of the clearing. ‘We could land here and take the landcraft along this terrain, though it is rather mountainous and may prove difficult. If we follow this river here, it will lead us directly to Kolga's temple.'

‘How bad is the terrain?' Lenis asked. He couldn't make out what the markings on the map meant.

‘It's bad,' Kenji told him. ‘Almost impossible for a landcraft to get through, I'd say.'

‘So, what do we do?' Lenis asked.

Kenji looked at the captain, who nodded. ‘There's a small settlement to the southwest of the temple. It's not on the map, but it's free of the Wasteland taint.'

‘How is that possible?' Lenis wondered. The map showed only Wastelands in the area Kenji indicated.

‘We do not know,' Tenjin answered. ‘I have never heard of such a thing before. Mister Jackson assures us it is uncorrupted, however.'

‘Trust me,' the navigator said. ‘It's clean. I've been there before.'

‘What sort of place is it?' Lenis asked.

Kenji glanced at the captain and then focused his attention back on the map. ‘It's a safe haven. Of sorts.'

‘What does that mean?'

‘It means we can land there and take the landcraft to the temple.' Kenji hadn't avoided Lenis's question, but he sensed the navigator was holding something back. He remembered how Kenji had found them in the streets outside of Asheim's prison, and how he had facilitated their escape from the city. The navigator had already demonstrated he could be quite resourceful when he needed to be.

The captain didn't seem to notice Kenji's hedging. ‘It is not uncommon for places to be left off a map.' Before Lenis could figure out what sorts of places might be ignored by cartographers, the captain added, ‘This is especially the case when the people in those places wish to remain undiscovered.'

Kenji coughed and hastily took a swig from his teacup, causing that corner of the map to roll up.

‘What about our escort?' Lenis pointed out of the bridge's crystal dome at the
Geschichte
trailing along in their wake.

Kenji laughed. ‘Oh, something tells me Captain Klinge is fully aware of this particular settlement.'

More puzzled than ever, Lenis opened his mouth to ask what the navigator meant, but realised how close they were getting to the Heiliglander airdock. ‘I'd better go and get Lucis.'

‘You do that,' Kenji told him, smoothing the corner of his map back down.

The airship bumped into something and woke Missy up. Her head was spinning a little, but the pain was all gone. She reached up to rub at her eyes and caught sight of her hand. There was a nasty gash through her right palm. It was scabbed over, but the skin around it was tight when she flexed it. The Quillblade. It had somehow turned into a lightning bolt in her hand and –

The Quillblade! Where was it? She patted herself down but didn't find it. She was wearing only the thin dress Heidi had given her. She panicked. What had she done with it? Lenis had pulled it out of her hand and thrown it … where? Not over the side! She swung her legs over the edge of the bunk. Her limbs moved slowly, but there was no real pain. Just a slight soreness deep under her skin.

‘Extraordinary.'

Missy glanced over at the doctor. He was sitting on the edge of his own bunk, looking at her.

‘Have you seen the Quillblade?' Missy asked. She had to find it! The last time she had lost it, Lenis had taken it from her. Did he have it now?

Long Liu ignored her. ‘How do you feel?'

‘Fine, I guess.' Missy wasn't interested in the doctor's questions. How could she have lost the
shintai
?

‘Hmm …' The doctor stood up and came over to poke her in the leg.

‘Hey!'

‘No pain? Any tenderness?'

‘A bit. Look, I'm sorry, but have you seen the Quillblade?'

Long Liu poked her in the shoulder, and then in the forearm near her damaged hand. ‘The boy has it. And you really feel all right?'

‘Yes! Can I go now?'

‘I suppose so,' the doctor said. ‘What an extraordinary thing.'

Missy groaned. What was the crazy old man going on about now? ‘What is it?'

‘The water the captain brought back from Neti's temple, where they found the Bestia. Do you remember?'

‘Of course.' Missy's spirit-self had followed along behind her brother and the small party that had ventured into the
Wastelands on the southern coast of Heiligland. The Bestia had run off and the crew found them in an old temple. Missy hadn't gone inside with them, but Lenis had told her about how there was a pool of water that had healed them all, and about Silili the Totem. She hadn't given it much thought after that. Both she and her brother had decided it had been the Totem who had healed Lenis and the Bestia, not the water. ‘Are you saying the water cured me?'

‘It would appear so,' the doctor told her. ‘Extraordinary.'

‘Why do you keep saying that? It healed Lenis and the Bestia, right?'

‘But it is just water,' Long Liu said. ‘I have tested the sample Captain Shishi brought back. I've tried it on burns and cuts and bruises. Nothing. It's just water.'

‘But it healed me?'

‘Just so. Quite extraordinary.'

‘Look, I really need to find the Quillblade. Can I go?'

‘Of course. Extraordinary. Extra. Ordinary. Extra. Extra. Extra. Ord.
Inary
. Or.
Dinary
. Ordi.
Nary
.'

Missy remained silent as she opened the doctor's door to leave. Sometimes he was so coherent he seemed almost normal, but his madness was always lurking just beneath the surface. For the first time Missy wondered what had made him like that. She had heard that Long Liu had trekked across the Wastelands dividing Tien Ti and Shinzō all by himself. Perhaps what had happened to him during that time had affected his mind.

Missy pushed all thoughts of the doctor's past aside and stepped out into the galley. She had to make sure the
shintai
was safe. Long Liu had said ‘the boy' had it. That meant Lenis or Shujinko. Or Kanu. It was easy to forget Kanu was there. He was usually around but didn't do much to draw attention to himself.

‘You are well?'

‘Argh!' Missy clutched a hand to her chest as Kanu came up from behind her. He must have been crouched down beside the doctor's door; Missy hadn't even seen him. ‘Kanu, yes, I'm all right.'

‘Good.'

Missy tried to steady the fluttering of her heart. ‘Were you waiting for me?'

‘Yes.'

Missy nodded. The boy definitely had a way of blending into the background. ‘Um, have you seen the Quillblade?'

She might just have offered him a treat. Kanu's eyes went wide and his lips curled up into what would have looked like a grimace on someone else's face. He kept bobbing his head as he reached inside his robe. One of Lenis's old ones, Missy noted.

Just as he began to pull his arm out, though, Missy shook her head and placed a hand on his shoulder. ‘Wait.'

Suddenly Missy didn't want to touch the Quillblade again, not since its power had torn through her. There was no way to know how much damage would have been done,
had
been done and healed by Silili's water. The
shintai
's powers were too potent for her. That much was now obvious. Tenjin had his big book of spells that somehow drew on Raikō's power, but Missy had never quite got around to asking him to teach her how he did it. Now she wondered why she hadn't.