Halcyon The Complete Trilogy (82 page)

A second salvo of rapid gunfire screamed through the air just behind the wing.
They’re getting closer.

“Almost there!” she yelled.

A third chatter of gunfire clattered up from the deck of the warship and erupted into a high-pitched cacophony of shredding aluminum as the bullets tore through the
Halcyon
’s fuselage. Lorenzo screamed and Taziri looked back to see him fall back from the open door clutching his chest. Half his face was painted red.

No, not him too! And where’s the stone?

A frozen spike of adrenaline stabbed at her spine as she caught sight of the stone rolling out of the harness and back into the small baggage compartment in the tail of the plane.

Nononono!

The
Halcyon
roared over the bow guns of the warship.

Out of time! Nothing I can do! I can’t help him and fly the plane at the same time!

The
Halcyon
was juddering and rattling as though the engine might tear free of the plane and leave the metal bird to plummet into the seat.

“UP!” Lorenzo hollered. “UP! Go up! Straight up! Now-now-now!”

He’s alive!
She glanced back once to see the entire inner tail of the plane glowing bright orange. Brilliant gold cinders were flaking from the walls and tiny white tongues of flame were dancing in the back of the baggage compartment. The first wave of heat flooded up into the cockpit as she felt her rudder controls growing looser and less responsive.

Lorenzo still clung to the rail beside the open hatch, the entire side of his body drenched in blood. “Dear God please.
UP!
”

She had never heard a man scream like that before. Not out of pain or fear, but pure selfless pleading with the Almighty, for the hand of God to intervene, not for himself but for the world, for life itself. Lorenzo’s voice was a conduit from his naked soul to his immortal Creator, and the sound of it snapped her around in her seat. She yanked back on the yoke and the crippled plane leaned back to climb into the pale cloudless sky.

The engine sputtered.
Almost out of fuel. Going to stall. Need to level out.

“Keep going!” Lorenzo screamed. “Don’t stop! You can do it!”

She dug her fingers into the shaking flight stick and kept her eyes on the pale patch of blue in her window. Her feet floated off the floor as her whole body’s weight came to press back on her seat and she clung to the controls to keep from sliding out of her seat belts. The needles and dials faded away, the vertigo of having the whole world shrinking away behind her vanished, and all she could feel were the violent spasms of the plane as it disintegrated around her.

The view in her mirror changed sharply and she looked up to see that the entire tail of the plane had torn free leaving only a ragged ring of melted metal around the cabin just behind the hatch. Lorenzo hung limp, his arm still caught on the rail, his face turned down toward the clear view of the sea below, and the deck of the warship beneath them.

Taziri slammed the yoke down and the
Halcyon
gently, ever so gently, nosed over and leveled out, gliding on wings clinging to their last bolts and rivets. The engine sputtered and coughed, the pistons misfiring and stuttering as they gasped for fuel. Her feet rested on loose and useless pedals no longer connected to the tail of the plane, which was falling back to earth in a blazing comet of molten steel.

She eased the plane down a bit and felt the wings bite into the wind and the
Halcyon
began to glide. The engine banged once and fell silent.

The distant chatter and thunder of the warship’s guns reverberated distantly through the air. Taziri held the yoke very still as she craned her neck to see the ship far below and behind them. The remains of the
Halcyon
’s tail had transformed into a bright glowing fist and it punched down into the warship’s deck with a thunderous boom. Men screamed and steel screamed. A column of black smoke rose from the jagged hole in the deck.

We did it. We got them. It’s over. We’re safe. Menna’s safe.

She clung to the yoke and sat rigidly in her seat, fighting to keep the
Halcyon
as level as possible. The whole airframe shuddered and rattled. With the engine no longer belching heat back into the cabin, the cold quickly seeped into her seat and back and neck. She shivered, but she didn’t dare let go the controls to put on her flight goggles.

They were falling slowly but steadily. She held still and focused on breathing and watching the coastline get closer and closer.

We’re not going to make it.

The
Halcyon
coasted down and she planted the pontoons on the foaming waves. The plane skipped and shook over the water and then plowed into a sudden halt. For the first moment, she just sat in her seat and felt the plane rocking around her. Then she pried her hands off the yoke and stumbled back to the remains of the hatch. The twisted wreckage of the missing tail had already cooled and dimmed to a smeary ring of black and gray. She knelt beside Lorenzo and slipped his arm free of the rail and rolled him onto his back.

One bullet had grazed the side of head. A second had punched through his right thigh. The floor was sticky with his blood.

She cradled his head in her lap. “I’m sorry.”

His eyes fluttered open. “Me too. This hurts. A lot.” He tried to smile.

She peered at the wound in his leg. “It doesn’t look too bad. Missed the artery.” Taziri gently pulled his long black hair out of his face. “Your wife was right about you.”

“She usually is. About what, this time?”

“That you’re very, very lucky.”

Day Eleven

Chapter 30. Lorenzo

Sunlight streamed through the open window with a fresh breeze that smelled faintly of roses and sea salt. It was a bright, airy room with tiled walls painted yellow and orange. The bed was soft and the pillow softer. Lorenzo explored the bandages on his head and then around his hip. As far as he could tell he still had all of his fingers and toes, and that was a good start.

Down past his feet he saw a woman sleeping in an old leather chair. He smiled. “Hello, captain.”

Taziri woke slowly, blinking and yawning. She smiled back. “Hello yourself.”

“How long have I been here?”

“A day or so.”

He grimaced.
Qhora
. “What happened?”

“There was a lighthouse nearby. The keeper saw the whole thing and telegraphed the authorities in Tingis.”

“Telegraph.” Lorenzo shook his head. “I’m starting to think we could really use one of those in España.”

“You’ll want at least two, I think. Anyway, there was a whole armada of cruisers and rescue ships out there in less than an hour.” Taziri stood and stretched in front of the window. “One of the coast guard boats picked us up and brought you back here to the hospital. You’re fine, by the way.”

“Good to know,” he said. “And the warship?”

“It took most of the day and night, but it sank right where we hit it. Deep water, apparently. The stone burned right through every deck and destroyed the engines and left a string of breaches straight through the whole ship. They couldn’t seal off the leaks, so they abandoned ship. Some made it back to España on their own. The others were picked up and they’re being questioned down in the harbor.” She dragged her chair over to his bed and sat beside him. “How do you feel?”

“Alive.” Lorenzo exhaled and felt the slight ache in his side under the bandages. He glanced over at her, wondering what was different about her. “You showered, didn’t you?”

She smiled and nodded. “Second thing I did after I got home.”

“And the first?”

“My husband.”

He laughed. “Well, you look beautiful.”

She blushed.

“Well, you do. I feel safe saying so since my wife is in another country and probably can’t hear me.” He sat up a little higher. “I suppose the skyfire stone is gone forever now.”

“It may be at the bottom of the Strait, but it’s not gone. There’s a strange warm current running through those waters now. And there’s a rumor that fully cooked fish are washing up on shore. It’s attracted quite a few picnickers and should be a very profitable new tourist destination by the time spring comes around.” Taziri grinned.

“Well, it’s nice to know something good came of it all,” he said dryly. “After all that running and fighting and worrying and dying over that stupid rock, all that trouble, and now it’s just gone. Just like that.”

“It did stop a war, you know. That’s something. It probably saved my family and everyone else in Tingis at the very least.”

He nodded. He tried to feel good about that.

Thousands of lives saved. That’s a good thing. But still, that stone might have made a difference in España for generations. It could have been placed in the canals under some poor city and brought heat and life to an entire province. It could have become a limitless font of wisdom if I could have learned to speak to the souls resting inside it.

Who knows what good might have come from it? And what did I do? I threw it into the ocean.

Lorenzo reached up to wrap his fingers around the triquetra medallion on his chest. “Sorry, sister. I…I’m sorry.”

The image of the dead nun appeared by the foot of the bed. It was not the swirling, vaporous shape of a ghost, no dim shade outlined in silvery aether. Ariel looked quite sharp and distinct in her ancient robe and hood, but discolored and transparent like a reflection in a dark window. She nodded and smiled. “I’m sorry, too. But you’re still alive, Lorenzo, and I think the world needs you more than that rock right now. It’ll be all right. You just need to have a little faith.” She bowed her head and faded away.

Lorenzo glanced at Taziri. “You didn’t see or hear any of that, did you?”

She frowned. “Any of what?”

“Nothing, never mind. Oh! Have you heard from your friends yet? The other officers who went south from Madrid, did they ever make it out of the country or do we need to round up a search party for them?”

Taziri’s face darkened. “They did show up last night. They hired a fisherman to sail them across the Strait from Malaga.”

He smiled. “Well, there’s some good news. They’re all fine?”

“The Italian woman, Nicola, is fine and my lieutenant, Kenan, is fine. But Major Zidane didn’t make it.”

Lorenzo bowed his head and made the sign of the triquetra. “I’m so sorry. What happened to him?”

“I don’t know. They’re debriefing Kenan and there’ll be an investigation.” She waved toward the window. “There’ll be a mountain of paperwork and headaches to deal with. Isoke almost cried when we dragged the
Halcyon
up onto the airfield.”

“I take it this Isoke built the
Halcyon
?” He nodded. “Please offer her my sincerest condolences. It was a magnificent machine. It saved us all.”

“I guess so.” She leaned her cheek on her hand. “You’ll probably be out of here in a few days. Will you still go to see Prince Valero?”

“Absolutely. Someone has to speak for all the people who nearly died here, and it needs to be one of us, not one of you. If men like Magellan continue to control our country, then it won’t be long before this all happens again.” Lorenzo squeezed his medallion and felt the unnatural warmth of the metal against his skin. “The wars in the New World almost destroyed España. We lost so much. Men, ships, wealth. God only knows how Magellan found the money to build that monstrosity of his.”

“Just be grateful he didn’t think to armor it against super-heated meteorites.” Taziri smiled. “You know, we’ll need to come up with a name for this new metal of yours. Perhaps espanium? Or maybe lorenzium?”

He laughed. “Dear God, I hope not. I’m sure the scientists will come up with something a little less ghastly.”

“What about aetherium?”

Lorenzo nodded. “Why not? That sounds genuine enough, and it won’t bring any of your tourists to my house for autographs.” He turned his medallion over to look at the discolored patch along the bottom edge. “There’s a legend about something like this. In ancient times there was a magical metal called orichalcum, a reddish gold more precious than any gem. I wonder if this is what they were talking about?”

“Could be.”

“You know, the city of Tartessos is built on the ruins of another, older city. The old city of Atlantia was destroyed so long ago that no one remembers why. There are a dozen different stories about earthquakes and tidal waves and fires.” He held up the medallion to the light. “You don’t suppose the entire city was destroyed by a lump of aetherium, do you?”

“Entirely possible. A magic metal that falls from the sky? I’ll bet every place in the world has a myth or legend about this stuff.”

“You’re probably right.” Lorenzo’s smile faded into a frown. “You’re right. If this aetherium has been falling from the sky all over the world as far as the Incan Empire, then there should be stories about it. It should be known. It should even be common. But it isn’t. It’s a myth, barely even a memory. Why is that? Does it all end up lost or destroyed like the skyfire stone? I mean, where has all the aetherium gone?”

Taziri raised an eyebrow. “I think that’s a question for another day. Get some rest. I’ll be back in a little while and we’ll write a little note to your wife. A friend of mine volunteered to fly up to Madrid to deliver your mail for you.”

“You have another plane?”

“No, just a good old-fashioned airship.” Taziri smiled.

“That sounds lovely. Thank you. And can you do me a favor?”

“Name it.”

“Go give that daughter of yours a hug from me. And tell her I’m sorry I kept her mother away for so long.”

Epilogue: Taziri

“What?” the Marshal General muttered to the colonel next to her. “No, we’re not going to wait for her again. I want to get out of here on time for once. Are you ready? Fine. Let’s just start.” She cleared her throat and projected her voice across the room. “I hereby call to order this hearing to review the events of investigation 1875-F-08. Captain Taziri Ohana?”