Voyages of the Flying Dragon (28 page)

Its savagery flowed into Lenis, igniting something deep inside him. Slowly, grabbing the mooring post for support with one hand and maintaining his grip on Suiteki through his robe with the other, Lenis pulled himself to his feet. The many-fingered Demon clutched the wolf-like Demon's oesophagus, and Lenis's defender went from slashing to scrabbling as it sought to free itself. A whine escaped its throat, and Lenis felt himself overwhelmed with pity. Whatever the creature was, it had saved Lenis's life. He couldn't just stand there and watch as the life was crushed out of it.

The many-fingered Demon was as empty as Lord Raikō had been when Lenis and Missy had combined their wills to control the Demon Lord, but it was nowhere near as powerful as the fallen Totem. Instinctively, Lenis wrapped his power around the creature, inundating it with his own pity for the wolf Demon and his strong need to protect it. Slowly, Lenis's desires filled the empty vessel of the many-fingered Demon until it, too, wished to preserve its prey. One by one, its fingers loosened and let the wolf Demon go. With a snarl, the wolf Demon lunged forwards and slashed his adversary's throat. Lenis, still connected to the creature, felt its animalistic panic and hastily drew his awareness back. It staggered away and Lenis caught a glimpse of his friends behind it.

They were losing the fight. Arthur and Andrea were already down. Shujinko was kneeling with one hand pressed against his side, which was red with his blood. His other hand still clutched his sword, but Lenis could tell he no longer
had the strength to wield it. The princess swung her hammer ceaselessly, but the massive weapon was ill-suited to fighting the smaller Demons, which were scurrying in under her guard. Disma did her best to keep them away from Anastasis, but the princess's already ragged dress was hanging off her in shreds, and she was bleeding from several small lacerations. Hiroshi had lost his
kusarigama
but had somehow managed to free Arthur's sword from the cat Demon's body. He held it in one hand and had one of Andrea's daggers in the other, but the Kystian weapon was bigger than a Shinzōn blade and heavier than the cook was used to. He was almost spent. The captain was still fighting, but he had been separated from the others and was now facing two Demonic Lilim on his own. Lenis couldn't see Long Liu, but he saw Tenjin step backwards to dodge an incoming blow, only to catch his foot on the lip of the airdock and go down. The Demon that had swung at him moved forwards to finish the records keeper off.

Lenis glanced away, unable to witness Tenjin's death. It was only then that he noticed Kanu wasn't there. When had he left? Where had he gone? Lenis scanned the battleground for any sign of the boy. Panic threatened to overwhelm him. How could he have let the boy out of his sight? As Lenis was looking back towards his friends he caught sight of a flicker of blue-black hair in the tail of his defender. It took him a moment to place its significance. Blue-black hair. Blackened nails. The wolf Demon was no Demon at all.

‘Kanu?' Lenis whispered.

The creature growled low in its throat. ‘We have to get everyone to the
Hiryū
.'

Kanu. The small, silent child they had stumbled across in the temple of the sea god. Kanu. The young boy who had been charged with serving the twins so long ago. It was so easy to forget he was even there. He was always in the background, never drawing much attention to himself. The boy's voice was deeper now, his shoulders broader than Arthur's. The angles of his face didn't seem as sharp, either. They had settled into a blending of canine and feline features. His heavy brow overshadowed blue eyes with slit pupils. His pointed ears swept back from his skull. The tattered remains of a Shinzōn robe still hung from his waist, the same one Lenis had given him back aboard the airship. But the boy who wore it … this was no boy.
This
was a Titan.

Lenis shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. ‘It won't help, Kanu. Even if we could get everyone to the
Hiryū
, it would soon be overrun. There are just too many of them.'

And they kept coming. For each one the crew felled, two or three or four more came down off the walls. Most of the fighters from the
Hiryū
were injured. All were tired. Dimly, Lenis was aware of the sounds of fighting coming from the far side of the ravine, where the defenders of Haven were stationed. The cries were growing fainter. There was less light in the ravine too, as if the Bestia who were generating it were growing weaker, or fewer. It wouldn't be long now. It was almost over.

Lenis turned back to the transformed Titan boy. ‘We've lost, Kanu.' He couldn't believe he was saying it. Couldn't believe it was
true
. ‘Ishullanu's won.'

Kanu threw back his head and howled again. His bestial yowl reverberated around the ravine. Suiteki began to screech too, a reptilian ululation that pierced Lenis's ears and burned his heart. There was such depth to her sorrow that Lenis thought it was going to claim him completely, obliterating everything else that was not despair.

Their calls were answered by another cry filled with outrage and fury. Lenis thought it was Etana, the Demon Lord come to finish them all personally, but then he realised the noise was coming from a human throat. It was impossibly loud, but it was definitely human, and it carried a message.

‘
Get out of my Haven!
'

Lenis watched in awe. Where his fear had petrified him only moments before, now he was simply stunned into immobility. A woman was running along the ravine's
wall
. It was the woman from the temple, still wearing that flimsy see-through gown, and she had something … no,
someone
thrown over her shoulder, but she was running horizontally along the wall. And she was moving so
fast
. Lenis had been in a few races before. Mistress Kell, one of the Puritans who had owned the twins, had a love of speed, but no Bestia, landcraft, or even airship could move this fast.

She had raced past them, dumping whoever she was carrying at Lenis's feet and then leaping from one side of the ravine to the other to land in the midst of the fighting. It took Lenis a few seconds to realise it was his sister lying on the ground before him.

‘Missy!' Lenis crouched down next to her. She seemed a bit dazed but otherwise unhurt.

‘Lenis!' Missy grabbed his arm and hauled herself upright. ‘Look!'

The woman was fighting the Demons
barehanded
. It was too much to take in. ‘What is she doing?'

‘She's using a
shintai
,' Missy said breathlessly.

‘Where?' Lenis demanded. ‘I don't see it!'

‘On her hands!' Missy pointed. ‘Her gloves!'

Lenis hadn't noticed them until Missy had drawn his attention to them. As he watched, they seemed to grow larger, transforming from leather gloves into metal gauntlets. They shone silver in what remained of the Bestia light bathing the ravine. At the tip of each finger was a golden claw. These were getting bigger too.

The woman tore through the ranks of Demons besieging the
Hiryū
's crew. She moved so fast that the Demons couldn't defend themselves from her. Her blows broke horns and shattered bones. Her slashes removed limbs and heads. The Demon that was menacing Tenjin was suddenly torn in half mid-strike. The ring of Demons surrounding the captain simply fell where they stood. In less than a minute, she had annihilated every last one of the Demons that had almost destroyed the
Hiryū
's crew.

She didn't stop there. With a jump and a midair somersault, she landed on the wall and ran up it, sending the bodies of vanquished Demons crashing down into the pit beneath her.

‘How is she
doing
that?' Lenis shook his head.

‘It's the gloves,' Missy said, her own awe evident. ‘They're
shintai
from the Fox God.'

Lenis turned to his sister as the woman disappeared beyond the reach of the Bestia light, heading off towards the mouth of the ravine. ‘Fox God?'

Missy shook her head. ‘Not sure. I think it's one of the Totem. Lord Tenjin might know which one.'

Lenis shook his head again. Demonic bodies were still raining down from above. ‘We'd better go help the others.'

Missy came reluctantly; her gaze turned skywards as if she could pierce the gloom above.

Things were worse than Lenis had feared. Arthur was breathing raggedly. The doctor, who himself had a large gash across his left temple, was inspecting the Kystian's chest. With the sack hanging off his belt now empty, Long Liu wiped absently at the blood pouring down his face as he continued his examination. Hiroshi was trying to get Shujinko to show him the wound in his side. Lenis remembered seeing him gored on a goat Demon's horn. If the cabin boy had damaged any of his organs, there was little anyone would be able to do for him.

The captain and Shin had found each other. Both looked pretty haggard and had several cuts and bruises on their faces and arms, but they seemed otherwise to have escaped serious injury. Princess Anastasis was standing alone with Disma, apparently unaware that she was bleeding from various
gashes. Her hammer showed signs of heavy use. Lenis turned away from the gore that clung to it. Until then he had been pushing his nausea down, but the sight of the princess covered in Demon blood and guts was enough to make him gag. The smell had grown worse, too, and more than anything Lenis wanted a breath or two of fresh air.

Tenjin and Kanu, who had reverted to his near-human form, were both kneeling next to Andrea. Dismay hung heavy about them. Lenis braced himself for the worst and moved towards the trio. She was lying on the ground, very still. As he came closer he saw the blood covering her head. A coldness welled up inside Lenis as he crouched down next to her, but then he saw her chest move and relief flowed through him. She was alive! There was a lot of blood, but hadn't Yami or the doctor once told him head wounds always bleed excessively? She would be fine. She had to be.

The pool of sadness solidified around him, and Lenis saw that Andrea was sobbing. Her grief was sharp in his chest. The ache of it brought tears to his eyes.

‘Where is she hurt?' Lenis asked Tenjin.

Before the records keeper could respond, Andrea reached up blindly and cried out, ‘My eyes! I can't see!'

The force of her pain knocked Lenis backwards. His mind reeled from it.

‘Lenis!' It was Tenjin, kneeling over him now.

‘I'm all right.' Lenis sat up and pushed Andrea's emotions away. It took all of his will to shield himself from them.
‘Oh, Andrea.' He touched her outstretched hand, but she snatched it away. ‘Shh,' he soothed and placed a hand on her shoulder. She shied away from even that contact. Lenis closed his eyes and looked deep inside himself. He found a memory of the twins playing with Aeris on the shores of Blue Lake. It had always been a source of comfort to him. He tried to recall that solace. It was difficult. Most of his strength was devoted to keeping Andrea's grief from overwhelming him. Then Suiteki moved inside his robe, uncoiling from the ball she had wound herself into. He felt the questing from her again, a drawing and a yielding. Her fear of the Demon attack was still fresh, but through that she knew he needed her. A small kernel of hope blossomed inside Lenis. He shielded it from the chaos that surrounded him, nurtured it with more thoughts of his sister and his Bestia, and cocooned it in Suiteki's aura. As it grew, he drew it up out of himself and wrapped it around Andrea.

Slowly, her sobbing quieted. She let Lenis place a hand on her shoulder, and then he took her hand. He pushed harder, willing his own comfort on the grieving woman, smothering her panic, her sense of loss and hopelessness and horror. Sweat broke out all over his body. His teeth were clenched so tightly he thought they might crack, but he didn't ease up until Andrea settled down into sleep.

Shaking from his efforts, Lenis fell back and stared into the blackness of the night. The night? No, faint traces of dawn had appeared over the lip of the ravine far above
them. Suiteki poked her head out of the folds of his robe and nudged his chin and cheek with her snout. Her claws pricked the skin on his chest, but the sensation brought more comfort than pain.

‘Lenis?' Tenjin asked softly.

‘I'm okay,' he mumbled. ‘Just tired. I made her calm. Should get the doctor.'

He felt Tenjin pat his shoulder. ‘You have done well, Lenis.'

Lenis nodded, marvelling at the changes in the sky above him as the Bestia light gave way to the sun's rays, and Suiteki pressed herself into his neck. The only Demons he could see were dead ones.

Missy wandered away from the others, following Fox as she butchered her way towards the far end of the ravine. The woman showed no signs of slowing or tiring. She fought as well on the wall as she did on the ground. Better, in fact, as the Demons clinging there were at an obvious disadvantage.

Missy was terrified and excited in equal measure. This was the true power of the
shintai
. Even Tenjin hadn't known the full force of the Quillblade. If he had, there was no way he would have just given it to her. If Missy could learn to wield it safely she would have the strength she needed to defeat Ishullanu. But how was Fox using it without losing control? How did she learn to master it? And could she,
would
she teach Missy the secrets of the
shintai
?

By the time the sun had risen enough to pour some meagre light down over the lip of the ravine, the Demons had been repelled. Some had fled. Others had fallen to the defenders of Haven and the crew of the
Hiryū
. Most had died by Fox's hand, by the hand of the
Fox God
.

As Missy approached the cluster of black-coated defenders, who had gathered around their Cunning Lady, she knew that somehow she would convince this woman to teach her. There was simply no alternative. She pushed through the people of Haven until she could see the woman. Fox was laughing so hard her head was thrown back. There wasn't so much as a scratch or a bruise on her.

Fox caught sight of Missy out of the corner of her eye. ‘So, little girl, what did you think of your first lesson?'

Missy pushed her sense of awe aside and ignored the ring of people surrounding them. If she couldn't convince Fox to teach her, there was no hope of defeating Ishullanu and his Demons. Missy weighed her words carefully, judging them based on what she had witnessed since meeting the woman, resisting the urge to simply take what she needed from her mind. Missy crossed her arms over her chest and tilted her head to one side. ‘Not bad.'

Fox snorted. ‘“Not bad,” she says.'

Missy nodded. ‘You might just be up to the job after all. I have to admit I had my doubts.'

Fox glared at her for a moment and then started laughing again. Missy was once more reminded of the half-crazed Tien
Tese doctor. ‘I
do
like you, girl. I tell you what. We'll give it a go.' Missy felt her hopes rise, but unease pierced her as Fox returned her stare. ‘Just remember your side of the bargain.'

Missy swallowed and nodded. ‘I will.'

Fox threw an arm around Missy's shoulders ‘Ha! One way or the other, girl, the Fox
always
gets what it wants.'

Missy shivered. ‘I want you to let my friends go, too.'

Fox shrugged. ‘We'll see. I have to do
something
about Kenji.' She spun Missy around to present her to her followers. ‘My Brotherhood! This cub is now my pupil. Let's go and celebrate!'

The people of Haven cheered as Missy was pulled along after their leader back towards the relative safety of Haven. She had done it. For whatever reason, Fox had agreed to teach her. Missy should have felt triumphant. Instead, a deep pit of grief had opened up within her. There was one part of her hastily constructed plan that she hadn't allowed herself to think about, but now that it was happening there was no avoiding her dilemma. If she was going to learn from the High Priestess of the Fox God, she was going to have to leave the
Hiryū
and her brother.