Diamond Bonds (25 page)

“Then let it happen,” she says.  “Your heart will tell you when you’re ready to leave.  Until then, enjoy the time you have with your friends.  Nothing lasts forever.”

“And if my heart never tells me it’s time?” he asks.

“Then maybe you were never meant to follow your father’s path.”

Pearl’s words sting his soul, yet they also bring Era a strange comfort, one he didn’t even realize he was seeking.  “Pearl, if anyone will one day touch the stars, it will be you,” he says, and their eyes meet in the moonlight.  Her soft expression invites him in, and Era again feels his heart race as he gazes upon his date.  Her bangs whip playfully around her eyes, and her face glows with a bold sense of adventure.  His breath trembles as she leans in, and their lips connect.  For a perfect moment, all is clear and quiet high in the sky as the inexperienced youths maintain their tight-lipped kiss.

However, the sky boat makes a sudden jolt, and Pearl dashes to the console to balance the craft.  “We should head back down,” she shouts, disappointment on her face.  Era gives an appreciative nod as the craft begins descending.  He clings to the harnesses, his heart still racing as a slight curl forms on his lips.

*              *              *

The boat comes to a rest on the ground, bouncing Era as the landing is anything but soft.  Pearl crouches and presses her hand against Era’s back as she waves to someone nearby.  She then unstraps her harness and lowers her voice.  “There’s always one night watchman, but these guys must be pretty poor at it since I can sneak past them.  Just do what you’re good at and you’ll be fine getting away.”  As she continues to act like she’s straightening the harnesses, she continues, “I’ll unlock the hold below.  The four of you need to be inside by daybreak.  I’ll fly you to the outskirts of Kemplen.”  Era nods his understanding.

Pearl pauses, once again saddened the night is at its end.  “Thanks for the date, Era.  I had a great time.”  With one last touch on his shoulder, she climbs over the edge and dismounts the sky boat.  After quietly unlocking the latch on the door below, she retreats to her tent to turn in for the night.

Era watches her from his vantage point, waiting until she’s safely in her tent to glance around the area.  The designated guard is sitting on a set of crates, a lantern at his side as his head bobs with drowsiness.  Era sighs, his excitement for a challenge diminished.  Rolling quietly to the back of the craft, he slips down and stealthily retreats into the woods, ensuring the sleepy watchman never has a chance of noticing him.

As he enters the tree line, he looks back at the tent into which Pearl disappeared and smiles to himself.  “I had a good time tonight too, Pearl,” he whispers.  He retreats further into the darkness of the woods, his heart finally slowing from the exhilaration of the flight.

Just as he starts wondering where he should be meeting up with the others, Fire jumps out of a nearby bush.  Era nearly jumps out of his skin at the abrupt arrival.

“You sure took your time with that,” Fire says with arms folded.

“Y-Yeah, I, ummm…”

“Save it.  I don’t care.”  She looks past Era and says, “Here come the ice queen and princess.”

Era turns to his other two companions emerging from the brush.  “What’s the big idea, Era?” Jem barks.  “You could have gotten caught!”

“It was Pearl’s idea!” he argues, throwing his hands in the air.  “She insisted we do it or the deal was off.”

For once, Jem fails to pick up on his exaggeration.  “Okay, fine.  So it went well?”

He nods.  “The plan is on.  We need to be in the hold by sunrise.  We could probably sneak in now if we wanted.”

“No, we wait until as close to daybreak as we can,” Fire asserts.  “If we go too early, we’ll be sitting ducks if the military decides to show up, because a bootleg sky boat operation is going to catch their eye pretty quickly.”

Era is surprised by her comment.  “Bootleg…?  Wait, you heard what Pearl said about smuggling?”

“I heard the entire date,” Fire says with a piercing glare.  “I saw
everything
.”  Era’s heart races as she withdraws a timepiece from her pocket and checks it.  “I’ll scout the surrounding area and come back if there’s danger.  Otherwise we’ll load up a half-hour before sunrise.  You three should sleep while you can.”

“We’ll sleep in shifts,” Jem snidely remarks, eyeing the crafty assassin.

After giving Era one last glance, Fire disappears into the woods.  Era recounts her words as he tries to convince himself she couldn’t possibly see anything from so far away.  Unless she has a spyglass?  But no, it’s too dark, right?  And even then, he had stripped her of everything when they first met.  Or did he miss it somehow!?

“Everything okay?” Jem asks, oblivious to the nature of his panic.

Era swallows hard and opts to change the subject. “S-So things went well on your end?  No sign of trouble?”

Jem waves her hand in the air.  “Everything went fine, though Di’s constant whining was draining.  I’m ready for sleep.  You want first or second shift?”

His adrenaline still surging, Era says, “I’ll take the first shift.  Go sleep.”  Appreciative of the offer, Jem heads off to set up camp, but Di hangs back, still pouting.  Era asks, “Nervous about flying tomorrow, or are you still upset about the date?”

“Maybe both,” she answers before quietly adding, “Didn’t realize I had so much competition.”

“Pearl?” he asks.  “The date was fun, but there probably won’t be a second one.”

She eyes him for a moment before giving him a hug.  Surprised, Era awkwardly returns the gesture, but she quickly releases her hold and hurries after Jem.  He gives a wave as she takes off, then turns and sets out to do a round of scouting.

*              *              *

Fire pulls herself onto a branch in the darkness of night.  She keeps replaying the moment in the woods when Di had tricked her into an overreaction.  It’s been so long since she’s shown any level of emotion like that, but the real frustration is
why
she reacted.  She shakes off the thought, attributing it to a severe lack of sleep.

She further scales the tree, pulling herself up branch by branch until she approaches the peak.  Inching her way as high as she can, the skillful tree climber looks out over the moonlit treetops.  She strains her eyes and ears for anything suspicious.  As she scans the horizon, she notices a plume of smoke rising a short distance away.

Fire grimaces, wondering if trouble has found them as she descends from her perch and begins seeking it out.  When she comes upon the source of the rising smoke, she can hardly believe her eyes.  Jaras is sitting on a log, stoking the fire.  Her breath trembles as rage courses through her entire body at the sight of the bounty hunter.  Gripping her dagger, she boldly leaps into the open from behind the hunter.  As he spins around, she kicks him hard in the chest, sending him stumbling backward.  It’s all he can do to avoid falling into the flames.

Fire points her dagger at her helpless victim as he slides away from the heat, her muscles twitching at the thought of slicing him to pieces.  “You’ve got a lot of guts to follow me around, Jaras!”

His usual demeanor is strangely absent as Jaras stands and confidently brushes himself off, and Fire wonders if she just fell into a trap.

Sure enough, a figure emerges from the forest behind Jaras, and Fire’s jaw nearly drops.  Commander Galen marches in, his hands in the air.  “Don’t worry, Fire.  I just want to talk.”

Chapter 14

Fire lowers her blade, aware a retreat will make her appear all the more guilty.  She sheathes her dagger and crosses her arms.  “Well?  Out with it, already.  I’m in the middle of a hunt, as you know.”

Galen relaxes, but Jaras points at Fire in accusation.  “You’re working with the targets, and now everyone knows it.  You’re finished, Fire!  You might as well-”

“Lieutenant Commander Bowen, please remove this brigand,” Galen calls out to his subordinate behind him.

“W-Wait just a minute!” the bounty hunter protests as Bowen moves closer.  “I thought-”

“You arranged the meeting, and you will be paid for your efforts as agreed upon,” Galen interrupts.  “Your presence is no longer required.”  Jaras huffs his annoyance as Bowen prods him away, leaving the two in private next to the small flame.

Galen turns back to his desired audience.  “His report is disturbing, so I asked him to set up this meeting for us.  He strongly believed you would come out if he made himself visible.”

Fire again curses her inability to kill Jaras earlier.  “How much did he charge you for being my secretary?”

Galen pauses before answering.  “Fifty thousand.”

She smirks.  “You wasted your money.  That slob is a pathetic excuse for a bounty hunter.  He can’t even make a fire, let alone hunt such highly valued targets.  When he failed to capture them himself, he apparently made up a little story and sold it to you gullible idiots.”

The commander doesn’t seem fazed by her words.  “So you deny his claims?”

“There is nothing to deny.  His words aren’t worth a venni, let alone fifty thousand of them.”

Galen picks up a stick to stoke the flames.  “So how is your own hunt coming?  Have you found the targets yet?”

“Once.  I lost them, but I’m already back on their trail.”

“Please fill me in on the details.  Where did you last see them?”

Pausing, Fire realizes she may well have backed herself into a corner.  “Outside Ugorzi.  Jaras and Shem interfered with my attempt to capture them, and they got away.”

“So they
are
in the region,” he says, mostly to himself.  “Look, Fire, I’d be a fool to think you allied with the targets, because you know as well as I do that they have no future.  Working with them would be suicide.”

Fire doesn’t have to feign her agreement.  With the entire military on the hunt, Di
will
be recaptured eventually, and the two thieves will thereafter find themselves in a jail cell.  Or worse.

“Money isn’t everything we have to offer, you know.  If six million isn’t enough, we can negotiate.”

“The money is enough,” Fire grunts in frustration.  “And none of this means anything since I’m not in league with the felons.  Now, unless you’re going to stand down and let me murder Jaras, I’m going to return to the hunt.”

As she turns to leave, Galen calls out, “We have a camp established outside Canterin.  You can bring them there once you’ve rounded them up.”  Choosing to seize the opportunity to escape, she offers a brief acknowledgement and dashes into the darkness.

Galen watches after her as Bowen approaches from behind and signals a flurry of scouts to chase after the assassin.  “At least we know their destination.  That clears the path to the border.”

“But
why
would she protect them?” Galen asks aloud, searching for an answer.

“You think she is?” he asks.  “You offered her the world, yet she insisted-”

“It’s not what she said, but what she
didn’t
say,” he declares with certainty.  “Her goal was to prove herself innocent from the beginning, even before the accusation had been made.  The fact that she didn’t first accept a better offer is proof of that.”

“If she is, all the better!” Bowen says.  “Our scouts will track her right back to the asset.”

“I’m not optimistic,” he admits.  “Her file labeled her as an expert in tracking, which means she’s also an expert at covering her tracks.”

“So everything she said could be a lie,” Bowen despairingly realizes.

“No.  The targets are in this region, so it is reasonable to think they’re headed to Canterin by foot.”

“Unless they’re planning to take a ship,” he suggests.  “They’re only two days out from the nearest port town.”

“Agreed.  We can have extra platoons at the ports by tomorrow night, but our best hope may be to wait for Fire to bring them to us.”

“You think she will, then?”

Galen doesn’t give an answer.  He unsnaps his uniform at the shoulder, removing the specially-designed sleeve and hooking it at his waist.  The shaper sticks his bare hand into the fire, bending the flames to his will and pulling them entirely onto his arm, leaving the cold, charred logs behind.  He extends his engulfed arm, using it as a torch as he and Bowen retreat into the darkness of the woods.

*              *              *

“Get up already!”

Jem’s hushed shout stirs Era from his deep sleep.  Realizing the sky is still pitch black, he rolls over and plants his face into his arm.

Jem looks at the half-awake Di in disgust.  “You get him up.  I’m going to freshen up before stuffing myself into that cramped box.”  With that, she grabs her bag and hikes into the trees for privacy.

“Ugh, this entire trip has been one massive experiment in sleep deprivation,” Di laments to herself, realizing her late nights studying at the Academy were quite tame in comparison.  She taps her cheeks to wake up, yet she finds the forest floor has never looked so inviting.  Crawling to her guardian, she shakes him and urges, “Era, get up already!  Jem will be mad!”

Era snaps awake, his eyes wide.  He looks around frantically and gasps, “Jem’s mad!?  Where is she?”

Di is taken aback by the reaction.  “N-No, I said… well, never mind.  She’s freshening up.”

“Freshening up?”  Era’s brain struggles to process her words.  After a lengthy silence, the dazed thief pointedly asks, “So why are you worth six million venni?”

“W-What?  I’m only worth two million, aren’t I?”

“The entire bounty is directed at you.  You know that.”

“I’ve already told you that I don’t know!   I’m good at air shaping, but…”

“There’s nothing else?” he asks suspiciously.  “Your dad isn’t conspiring with Allerians or anything?”

“Daddy would never do something like that!” she insists.

Era stretches.  “I’m sorry, it’s just… There has to be a reason for the bounty.  It’s huge!”  Thinking for a moment, he wonders aloud, “Maybe it’s because you’re a super Academy student?  You’re young to be a student there, right?”

“I’m not
that
great a student.”  Though her comment is meant mostly for herself, she realizes Era is looking at her intently, expecting an explanation.  “I-It’s just that… well, I don’t get the best grades.”

“You don’t?”  Era is surprised to hear it.  “Well, you’ve had us fooled.  But you’re still something special just to be there, right?”

“I’m nothing special, intellectually,” she laments.  “The other students don’t need to… you know…”

“…need to what?”

Di balks.  “N-Nothing!  They don’t need to… study as hard.”

“Come out with it, already.”

She sighs.  “They don’t need to… cheat.  Like I do.”

Era’s eyes bulge.  “You
cheat?
  At the Three Pillars Academy?”

The small girl frantically shushes him.  “Please, Era!  Don’t tell Jem.  She’ll make fun of me!”

Era laughs out loud, which seems to further embarrass her.  Trying to rein in his reaction, he says, “I’m sorry, Di.  It’s just that you’ve painted yourself as quite the student.  N-Not that you’re not!” he quickly adds.  “I mean, I’m sure you’re a good student and all.”

“I’m not, okay?  I’m just lucky they don’t realize I’m…”  Tears welling up in her eyes, she looks to her guardian.  “I just get so scared I’ll disappoint Daddy, so I just… I can’t stop myself…”

Feeling sorry for the girl, Era pats her shoulder.  “Look, Di, this is good news!  Maybe they’re just after you because they think you’re a model student.  When we get you home, they’ll realize the entire thing was a mistake.”

Di scrunches her knees up and buries her face in her arms.  “I just… I really don’t know why they’re after me!  I’m not smart, and my air shaping talents aren’t useful or anything.  I’m not special at all!”

“Your eyes are golden,” Era offers.  “That’s not exactly normal.  Erm, I mean…” he mumbles awkwardly, realizing he should choose his wording more carefully.

“It’s actually an indicator of elemental skill,” she explains eagerly, gladly playing the instructor once again.  “The masters’ eyes change with developed skill, though generally it manifests as mere flakes of color.  Mine are certainly unique.”

“Well, that would certainly match the skill we’ve seen in you,” he says.  “I don’t know, Di.  You seem like you could be special to
someone
.”

The familiar rustle of leaves indicate Fire’s arrival.  “You ready?” she asks.

“Ready!”  Jem reappears, her bag slung over her shoulder.  “Good work, Di! I didn’t actually expect you’d get him up.”  She turns to Fire in anticipation.  “Any trouble last night?”

“There was nothing,” Fire answers.  “The military must be incompetent.”

“Or maybe those hunters didn’t report us like you thought they would,” Era suggests.

Jem shrugs it off.  “What matters is we’re in the clear for now.  So let’s go get into that sky boat.”

Jem and Fire turn to head out, and as Era stands, Di grabs his pants and gives them a tug.  “Please don’t tell!” she whispers.  He nods and offers to help her stand, deciding it isn’t exactly a secret worth telling, anyway.  Unfortunately, he still has no idea why they might be after the girl.  As always, if Di knows, she isn’t letting on.

Leading the way, Jem heads back toward the clearing with the sky boat operation.  The sky had grown overcast as they slept, its darkness making it difficult to traverse the terrain, though it aids their stealth.  Coming to the clearing’s edge, the group scans the camp, finding the crew members are still asleep in their tents.  The guard-on-duty is also sound asleep, making it all the easier for the group to sneak in.

Jem signals for the others to wait while she approaches the sky boat and searches for the door.  Finding a latch, she quietly pops it open and checks inside with her light rune.  Content with the state of the interior, she signals for the rest of the group to approach.  Era leads Di to the boat, and Fire brings up the rear.  They crawl into the small craft, and Jem quietly closes the hatch behind them.

Jem grins in the darkness as she keeps her voice low.  “Cozy, isn’t it?”

“Shh!”  Fire isn’t amused, worried about being cooped up in such a confined space.  She knows if things don’t go according to plan that they aren’t in a position to defend themselves.

The four sit in silence as the small cabin warms from their body heat.  A tiny amount of light starts to shine through the cracks in the doorway, indicating that their ride should begin shortly.  However, as it continues to get brighter, the only thing that changes is the continuous rise in temperature.  Jem and Di fan themselves in vain, and Era leans his head against the door in hopes of catching any fresh air that might sneak in.

Voices can eventually be heard outside, and Fire curses to herself. Pearl was supposed to sneak them off before anyone else awoke.  They could be in for a fight with the workers if they’re discovered.

Just before Fire decides to abandon the plan, Pearl’s voice can be heard calling out to someone as she approaches the sky boat.  She hurries to the hold and knocks softly.  Everyone looks at Era in anticipation, but he shrugs in confusion.  He softly knocks back once, which is apparently what Pearl was expecting.  She latches the door and scales the outside of the craft.  Era turns to Di with enthusiasm and mouths the words, “Here we go.”  She grips his arm tightly and prepares for the worst.

A loud blast of wind erupts from the top of the sky boat, rushing through the network of tubes encircling the cabin.  A welcome breeze rushes in as the door rattles, and the boat begins to lift off.  Losing the security of the ground isn’t a welcome sensation for any of the travelers.  The boat shakes and rocks as it continues to accelerate upward for quite some time before beginning to move forward.

The noise forces the schoolgirl to release Era and grab her ears.  “How long will this flight be?”

Era lets go of one of his ears.  “What!?”

“HOW LONG WILL THIS TAKE!?”

“Oh!”  Era looks at Jem and Fire and shrugs.  “I figured an hour or two.”

“WHAT?”

Era leans closer.  “AN HOUR OR TWO!”

“TWO HOURS!?”  Di flops against Era and fights against hyperventilation.  Era sympathetically pats her head with his free hand, hoping she doesn’t lose her last meal all over him.