Enervation (Shadeward Book 3) Page 4

  I hate this ship!

  The departure from Nireus had been the anticlimax she had hoped it would be. No sign of pursuit from the priestesses of Drayden. The first stretch had passed without much trouble; the sea had been calm and smooth. The thick grey cloud that had covered the sky had cleared, revealing the strange green hued curtains of light that Turgan had called the ‘Alisse’, silently drifting above. Minute lights had pricked the darkness beyond.

  Just like my dreams of long ago, what are they? Impossible tiny sparkles …

  But then the wind had picked up. The sea had transformed from a smooth, almost featureless, flatness to a rolling, tossing sleep-terror. Zoella had been affected straight away, but was alone in her torment. No one else was suffering, not even Ren, who had never been aboard a ship either.

  She sank to her knees, still clutching the guardrail in one hand. She had never felt so miserable. The ship pitched forwards and back, undulating under her.

  But it wasn’t just the sea-sickness.

  Loneliness cut through her, colder than the frozen wastes she had hiked through mere stretches before.

  Everyone I cared about, killed or taken by the priestesses … and the one I thought might be a friend …

  She cast her mind back. King Ioric, he who had rescued her and protected her – slain. Her loyal carn, Raga – slain. Guerrun, her long lost guardian – slain. Her queen, Liana, turned against her and captured. Perhaps she was dead too.

  She remembered Liana’s ferocity, her attempt to steal Zoella’s gift. She’d tied Zoella down, whipped her in a rage. She remembered Turgan’s lust, his hand fondling her thighs, reaching up …

  More bile. She retched again, dissolving into sobs with the sheer misery of it all.

  And Meru … even he’s ignoring me!

  An image swam into her mind, unwanted and unwelcome, but she was powerless to stop it. Dark hair and sharp blue eyes, a fierce unyielding expression and an unremitting purpose. A black-gloved left hand. Zoella trembled, her entire body shaking with rage.

  Kiri!

  It was she who had been responsible for all of it. She had killed King Ioric, setting her ghastly flying beast upon him; Zoella could only recall the horror of the snapping bloodstained teeth. Then Raga, who had sought to protect her. Kiri had crushed his skull with her staff and tortured the king’s younger brother prince Torin, brutally killing him too. She trembled with the memory.

  Murderer! Killer!

  Somehow Zoella had fought her off, it seemed she alone had the power to resist the evil priestess. But that had only made Kiri pursue her more. Meru had rescued her and helped her escape, but Kiri had followed.

  She caught us …

  More killing. Zoella had found the one man who might have told her more about her origins, but Kiri had found him too and murdered him before Zoella’s eyes. Whatever secrets he knew, only Kiri knew them now.

  Guerrun … But then …

  Kiri had done something strange. The priestesses of Drayden had Zoella, Meru and Ren cornered, about to shoot them down whilst they tried to escape on this strange metal ship. The priestesses had an easy shot. Zoella had tried to stop them but knew she couldn’t prevent so many.

  Yet Kiri stopped them, she let us escape … why would she do that?

  It made no sense.

  Zoella coughed, spitting more bile out into the rolling ocean beyond the ship.

  And since then Meru won’t speak to me. Why not? Why’s he ignoring me? Did she do something to him? What? Why would she let us go when she chased us for so long?

  ‘You all right?’

  Zoella looked up into a round friendly face framed by short blonde hair. It was the ship’s engineer, a woman called Mel.

  Zoella couldn’t manage words. She shook her head.

  ‘Sea-sickness, eh?’ Mel said. She took a blanket out from under her arm and folded it around Zoella. ‘It’s pretty miserable. Not much comfort I know, but it will pass in a stretch or two. You’re just going to have to wait it out ’til you adjust.’

  Zoella pulled the blanket around her, shivering.

  ‘Thank you,’ she managed.

  ‘Your best bet is to stay as close to the middle of the ship as you can, it rolls less. That and sip a bit of water as often as you can.’

  Zoella nodded.

  She felt Mel crouch down beside her.

  ‘You … ah … alone out here?’

  Zoella couldn’t help it. Loneliness overwhelmed her, tears streamed out of her eyes and down her cheeks; the pain in her stomach replaced with heaving sobs. She felt Mel put an arm around her and pull her back against the bulkhead of the ship.

  ‘Hey … it’s going to be all right. You’re safe now, nothing is going to hurt you on board. The crew are a bit offish, but they’ll warm up soon enough. Truth is, they’re pretty scared themselves … I think your story was a bit more than they were expecting. These powers …’

  Zoella tried to stop the shuddering and wiped at her tears. ‘Thank you, you’re very … kind …’

  Mel smiled at her. ‘Nothing to it,’ she said. ‘Anyway, where’s Meru? Isn’t he …?’ Mel stopped, seeing the look that crossed Zoella’s face. ‘You two had words or something?’

  ‘He won’t talk to me,’ Zoella said. ‘He’s ignoring me, ever since … something happened … she did something to him. I don’t know what … I might be able to help, but …’

  ‘She? This priestess girl you told us about? She sounds like a right nasty piece of work. Shame we didn’t give her a blast from Fitch’s rifles when we had the chance!’

  Zoella nodded.

  ‘Come on, let’s get you below decks and cleaned up. Then we can talk.’

  Zoella found herself hauled to her feet; Mel was strong. Zoella was led back inside the ship and ushered into the common room. Mel got her a cup of water and a dampened cloth to clean her face with.

  ‘So what happened back there?’ Mel asked as Zoella sipped at the cup.

  ‘The priestess, witch, whatever you want to call her,’ Zoella said. ‘She killed so many of my people. Meru rescued me in his flying machine, but still she chased us. Through the mountains, forests and the frozen wastes, right into Drem.’

  ‘But why?’ Mel asked. ‘What for?’

  Zoella huddled closer into the blanket. ‘For this power, this gift,’ she answered. ‘The priestesses can take powers from others, steal them, add them to their own. It makes them more powerful. I was able to resist …’

  ‘So this … what was her name?’

  ‘Kiri.’ Zoella spat the name.

  ‘She’s after you? Trying to take your power?’

  Zoella nodded.

  ‘But …’

  Zoella looked up. ‘She let us go. When you found us at the quayside, she deliberately stopped the other priestesses. Kiri let us go …’

  Mel frowned. ‘And you think that has something to do with Meru?’

  Zoella sighed. ‘She did something to him. I’m sure of it. Why chase us all that way and then let us go? Makes no sense.’

  ‘You’re worried we can’t trust him?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Zoella said. ‘Kiri caught him once before. She tortured him I think, trying to find out where I was. I don’t know what he went through, but she has some hold over him …’

  ‘I’d better let Coran know …’

  ‘I don’t want to cause trouble!’ Zoella looked alarmed.

  Mel touched Zoella on the arm. ‘Hey. I can see you care about him. He’s lucky to have a friend like you. We’re worried about him too. Come on, cheer up. We’re getting further and further away from that witch all the time. There’s no way she can cross the ocean. Try to put her out of your thoughts.’

  Zoella pursed her lips, stifling a yawn. She shivered.

  I wish I could! Kiri will find a way …

  ‘You’re still exhausted. You need rest,’ Mel said. ‘Bet you haven’t slept at all. You’ve been putting salve on your back too, I hope?’

&nb
sp; ‘I …’

  ‘Thought so, come on.’

  Zoella allowed herself to be led down to the sleeping berths. Mel was right, it felt good to be looked after. Mel helped her into a bunk, checked the welts on her back where she had been whipped by Liana, and then rubbed salve into them and gave her a small measure of Coran’s Ochren.

  ‘Medicinal,’ she said, with a wink.

  The liquor was strong and made Zoella’s head swim, but in a more pleasant way than the slow rocking of the ship. Zoella found herself dozing off.

  Dreams flickered at the edge of her mind.

  Coran and Fitch were in the deckhouse of the Mobilis when Mel joined them. Both were looking out at the forward deck as the ship pitched back and forth.

  ‘I hope this sea doesn’t get any rougher,’ Coran muttered. ‘Not happy being out here on a single engine.’

  ‘Two stretches out of Nireus,’ Fitch replied. ‘Got a long ways to go yet. Think the ship’ll hold together?’

  ‘She’ll hold,’ Mel said, walking up behind him. ‘I’m more worried about our passengers.’

  ‘The witch girl?’ Fitch said.

  ‘Don’t call her that,’ Mel replied.

  ‘Why not?’ Fitch returned. ‘She’s got magic powers. She’s a witch.’

  ‘The poor girl has a name; she’s called Zoella. Seems to me she’s as much a victim of what’s going on as anyone else. Her story is miserable. All death, murder and angst over these strange powers.’

  ‘Shouldn’t have taken her aboard,’ Fitch said. ‘No good’ll come of it.’

  ‘We couldn’t just leave her behind,’ Mel retorted. ‘Anyway, sounds like we have her to thank that Meru is still alive.’

  ‘Shouldn’t have let Meru go either,’ Fitch added.

  ‘Are you going to constantly hark back over old ground?’ Coran snapped. ‘What’s done is done.’

  ‘I warned right from the start we was playing with stuff we didn’t understand,’ Fitch said, facing both of them. ‘So we’ve learnt that these confounded witches are real. Fantastic. We’ve learned that they still have a death wish on all the people of Amar … wonderful! But those same scorchin’ witches now know about us. And since one of them chased Meru across the whole forsaken continent we just put to our tiller you can bet your last coin they are going to come for Amar – and just to compound it all we’ve got one of them on board!’

  ‘She’s not one of them!’ Mel snapped.

  ‘And there’s no way they can know where Amar is,’ Coran said.

  ‘Really?’ Fitch said. ‘You saw what that witch girl …’

  ‘Zoella!’ Mel interrupted.

  ‘… what she can do. She can put a thought in your head, sure as shades is shades she can see what’s in your head too – your thoughts, your feelings and anything you know. She can kill you just by thinking it – she admitted it! Don’t suppose we can keep any secrets from her or her kind. How do we really know she isn’t one of them? She’d be a perfect spy, playing on our sympathy. She might already be doing stuff inside our heads and we’d never even know.’

  Coran looked at Mel and she returned the look.

  ‘See?’ Fitch said. ‘You’re thinking it too.’

  ‘Meru has vouched for her,’ Coran said.

  ‘And Meru’s in his right mind is he?’ Fitch said. ‘He’s been through the wringer that boy and no mistake. What if this witch girl …’ He glared at Mel before she could say anything. ‘What if she, or any of the others he’s met, has done something to his head?’

  ‘It’s not her,’ Mel said. ‘She’s worried that the priestess girl might have done something to him, says he’s acting odd ever since we left Nireus …’

  ‘Then either way we have a problem,’ Fitch replied. ‘We can’t trust him, he’s being manipulated. I say we’re leading the enemy straight into our home camp. We should pitch this girl overboard, and her little friend, right this spell, just to be safe. Might be safest to dump Meru too.’

  ‘No one is being pitched overboard,’ Coran rumbled. ‘Least of all Meru

  …’

  ‘Mark my words then,’ Fitch said, pushing past both of them and striding to the door at the back of the bridge. He pushed it open and stepped outside, pausing for a moment. ‘You’ll regret that you didn’t. You made a mistake when you went looking for the witches and you made a mistake not keeping hold of Meru back when we found that cursed speaking contraption. Third time is the charm, so they say. You’re leading an army of witches right into our home port. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.’

  He slammed the door and was gone.

  Coran sighed. ‘I thought we’d have a happy ship once we were homeward bound.’

  ‘Fitch is overreacting …’ Mel began.

  ‘Is he?’ Coran asked. ‘We don’t know what happened back there. These witches are real, Mel. Far more powerful than we feared and in enough numbers to destroy a city with ease. You heard Meru tell us what they did to Viresia – they wiped it out in minutes. What do you think they’ll do if they find Amar?’

  ‘Amar has some weapons. Catapults, the coastal defences, archers …’

  ‘You think they’ll hold against an aerial attack where the invaders can kill you by thinking it?’ Coran glared at Mel, who didn’t answer. ‘Fitch is right, we’ve been stupid. We’ve alerted them to our presence and reminded them of some ancient vow – they’re pledged to exterminate us. All those old legends warning of witches with magic powers – remember how we laughed? Turns out it’s all true! Worse than true. They’re going to come for Amar. Maybe Fitch is right about our passengers too …’

  ‘You can’t!’

  Coran clenched the helm hard in his hands, his knuckles showing white through his skin.

  ‘Not without proof, no,’ he said. ‘If she’s telling the truth she might be handy to have on our side – maybe even the only effective weapon we’d have … what do you think?’

  Mel considered it for a moment. ‘She’s just a girl. She’s hurt, scared and lonely,’ she answered. ‘I believe her. I don’t see her in the same light as these priestesses. They did try to kill her, we all saw that. I think she’s been running from them all her life.’

  ‘Maybe.’

  ‘Zoella isn’t one of them, I’m sure. Like you say, she might be the only defence we have.’

  ‘I’ll trust your judgement,’ Coran said with a smile. ‘What about Meru? And no, I won’t pitch him overboard either.’

  Mel frowned. ‘He’s not right. Zoella says he was caught by this priestess girl, the one who was chasing them … the one called Kiri. Zoella thinks he was tortured, or something. Lacaille knows what she might have done to him.’

  ‘You think he might be a liability?’

  ‘I think we need to know what happened back there. He’s ignoring Zoella it seems, won’t talk to her. She’s pretty upset about it.’

  Coran nodded.

  ‘And I need to check on the one remaining engine,’ Mel said, with a grin. ‘I’ve done my bit with the girl. Now we need to sort Meru. Over to you captain.’

  Coran grimaced. ‘I knew you were going to say that.’

  Meru and Ren were sitting over the bow of the Mobilis, watching the sea roll under the ship, parting into foaming torrents as the ship continued on its course. Ren shrieked with delight every time the spray splashed across him. Both seemed oblivious of the rough sea, though the weather was clearing with every mark they progressed. Snatches of clear blue were shining between rents in the clouds above.

  ‘Can’t see it no more,’ Ren said, pointing up into the sky.

  They’d been talking about the strange light in the sky they’d seen after leaving Nireus.

  Meru nodded. ‘No, the sky is too bright now.’ The light they had seen was no longer visible and the fainter lights that had accompanied it were also gone, lost in the brightening sky between the clouds. Even the green curtains of light were harder to see now as Lacaille’s influence grew once more.

  ‘Skysh
ip,’ Ren said. ‘How’d it get up there?’

  Meru thought about it. Two stretches before they’d seen a light, rising in a swift arc across the sky. He’d first thought it might be a flying machine like the one he’d appropriated from Caesar’s hangar, but it was too high, beyond the mountains and beyond the clouds, never more than a point of light. It had crossed silently above them and then dropped towards the far horizon, its speed constant and smooth.

  Less than a chime later it had appeared again, now at a different angle in the sky, but behaving in the same way. They’d had ample chance for all the crew to look at it through Coran’s scope, which, if you could hold it steady enough, had shown the light to be an elongated shape with three distinct sections; a blunt ‘nose’, a bulging mid-section and a tapered stern. More than that they couldn’t make out.

  But to make out even the smallest shape at the distance it must be huge … huge beyond imagining.

  During his adventures in Scallia Meru had found an ancient research station, with long abandoned machinery pointing at the sky. He’d learned the devices were called radio telescopes and they seemed to have once sent messages up into the sky to where the skyship flew.

  Ships in orbits, high above the sky.

  After watching the skyship a second time, Meru had gone below decks and tried to work it out. He made some calculations on a piece of paper, rewriting them and scribbling again, the answers made no sense.

  It’s above the clouds, beyond the mountains, beyond even the horizon! So far that we can’t hear it. Horizon is about twenty five marks away give or take … how high is the sky? Let’s say it’s fifty marks. The ’scope makes things about twenty times bigger than they really are …

  He’d written the numbers down, and used the figurings of distance that he’d learnt as an apprentice timekeeper on Amar. He knew the maths worked for things on the ground, but the answers for the skyship were unbelievable.

  But that means it’s something like five marks long! And if it is truly that big, it’s moving at a speed of hundreds of marks every minute. That can’t be right …