Whispers of the Skyborne (Devices of War Book 3) (37 page)

She didn’t have time to think about that.

A wide, sweeping plain opened before them, filled with grass and wild flowers. The hill they’d crested had a sharp face on the other side, concaving before sloping downward in a slide of green mossy rocks.

No footprints. Had anyone attacked the cave without knowing the safe path, the moss would have slipped with their steps. Neira had also installed a few traps along just in case. She’d known this day might happen.

Not with the Han, though. She never would have guessed Taileh would have aimed so high. Another island tribe? Probably. Yes.

Taileh had left a scorned woman.

Even so, Neira hadn’t imagined her revenge would be this severe.

A sharp, forceful wind shoved Neira, trying to push her over the cliff.

Her fellow warriors gripped the ground tightly, digging in.

Neira ground her teeth. If the Han were here, in this area, then their traitor was Taileh, without a doubt, and if that was the case, she’d want to meet in their special place.

Shah looked at Neira from the side of her eye. “Tell me this isn’t her.”

Neira couldn’t, not when everything in her gut said it was. The information about the tunnels? The attack on the Koko Nadi Islands, specifically Tunnel—Peacock Rock?

No. Taileh and her tribe, the Napa Lutes, had been the ones responsible for mapping the tunnels, determining which were safe and which were off-limits.

Scowling, Skah gnashed her teeth, the rest of their warriors lining the hollowed cliff top on either side of them.

Already, Neira could feel the wind slacken and release as if the world was a big tug of war and it was tired of playing. She scanned the forest. The reports had claimed sightings of the Han’s foot soldiers in this general location. Where were they? If Taileh was the informant, she would have told them of the Paha caves.

The Paha caves were a hidden resource of both pleron and labor.

She narrowed her eyes. Or would she have? Would her betrayal extend that far?

On a whim of a thought, she turned to Skah. “Take a small group to the Paha-owa. Scout it and report back.”

Skah nodded, flicked her hand to the people around her and disappeared into the thick vegetation behind them.

The Paha-owa was nothing more than a large scar on top of a hill not far away. A large group of caves and tunnels littered it. It looked like a dead and shriveled volcano. Her people remained clear of it, though, preferring not to tempt the gods that resided inside the volcanic mountains.

“Chaska,” Neira said to the large man on the other side of her.

He swayed with the pressing winds, which while they had lost power, were still strong. “
Akcit
.”

“Check on the Paha. Ensure they are all right and let them know they need to leave the caves. They are no longer safe.”

He nodded and flipped over the ledge, disappearing amongst the stones with his forest-colored tunic.

Neira flicked her fingers to her other scout masters, commanding them to scout along the perimeter.

Skah returned before the other scouts did. She ran out of the woods, and crouched beside Neira. “Your suspicions are confirmed. They are at the Paha-owa.”

She met Skah’s gaze.

The other woman didn’t need any further orders. She rose barked a single, piercing note that sounded like the cry of a predator bird, the
wanbli
, and disappeared into the thicket, Neira’s people following.

That left Neira free to go where she had to. She skirted along the wall of fallen trees, a scar of the last turn’s hurricane season. She followed it north to a small meadow.

She knew this meadow well. For almost a complete turn, she had spent many happy hours in this meadow with the woman she thought she’d loved, until one fateful day when Taileh had shown her true colors and ruined everything.

Neira took her blade, slammed it into the soft earth, and roared her rage to the heavens to announce her presence.

A twig snapped behind her.

Neira spun.

A woman stepped out from behind a tall pine. Wind ruffled the long fur of her wolf-pelt collar. She held her longbow at her side. “Neira.”

The soft lilt of the other woman’s voice as she called Neira’s name tugged at her heart with long forgotten pain. “Taileh.”

Taileh tipped her head to the side. “You have not changed.”

And neither had she. Her long reddish-blonde hair was swept up in a loose braid, the wind tugging strands of it into her face even in this shielded space. Her blue eyes, bright as the summer sky, seemed no less dim for all the years that had passed.

How could Neira feel such longing for the woman after all this time, after all she’d done?

Bowing her head, Taileh glanced at Neira through her eyelashes. “Is this any way to greet an old lover?”

Taileh hadn’t simply left all those years ago. She’d stolen valuable information, maps of the mines, and had nearly killed Neira’s brother in her escape. She’d abandoned Neira, abandoned her with the knowledge that the woman she’d defied her father to love had betrayed her. And for what? She’d been unable to regain access to the mines. She’d not been able to gain any fortune from the information she’d stolen.

Taileh chuffed, raising her face to the sky. “Still sore, I see.”

“Why the Han?”

Taileh released a long sigh.

“The Han. You brought the Han to my people. You showed him how to gain access, how to get through our defenses. 
You 
allowed him in. What did I ever do to deserve this? After you stole from me, to inflict this upon me as well? I don’t understand it.”

Taileh didn’t move. Didn’t twitch.

“Were you working with the Han the entire time?”

“Not the Han.”

Neira shook her shoulders, taking a step forward. “Then who? How long have you been at this?”

Taileh raised her eyebrows, her lips pursed. “Since before I was born. Neira, please understand. I did not mean to hurt you.”

Neira took another advancing step on her ex-lover. “You hurt my people, Taileh. How could you do so and not expect to hurt me?”

“I had no choice.”

“Why? Was your father in jeopardy? Your sister? Did the Han have something over you?”

Taileh shook her head, holding out her hand, palm up. “Please, just listen.”

“What would drive you do such a thing?”

Taileh bit her lips. “The programmer.”

Neira jerked back. “What did you say?”

“I know you know,” she said just loud enough to be heard over the moaning of the branches. “The programmer does not allow much room for argument.”

“What do you mean?”

Taileh took a step forward. “Just listen. The programmer has something in each of us and with one thought, he can kill any of us.”

Neira shook her head, standing her ground.

Taking another step forward, Taileh reached for Neira’s arm. Her hand hovered there, the expression on her face torn. “My family.”

“Are under my protection, no matter your betrayal.”

Taileh shook her head and dropped her hand. “No. If I fail in my mission, they die and you cannot protect them from him.”

“I don’t understand.”

“My brother.”

Neira frowned. He’d died suddenly and without explanation in the middle of the spring feast day celebration. Days later, Taileh had stolen the maps and fled. “Your programmer claimed responsibility for that?”

Taileh nodded. “I had no choice. He threatened my father, my sister.” She took Neira’s hand. “You.”

She jerked her away and took a step back. “No.

Taileh followed, but didn’t try to touch again. “Yes.”

“Why did you bring the Han here? Why would you risk the slaughter of my people?”

“The pleron!” Taileh shouted, meeting Neira’s fury head on. “We need the pleron.”

Neira stared at her.

“It was always,” Taileh whispered, “about the pleron. The tunnel mappings, our quest. They need the pleron to rebuild.”

“I know about the Skyborne.” Neira inhaled sharply as if to retrieve her spoken words.”

“What?”

Neira swallowed. “I know about the Skyborne and why they need the pleron. I know they’re trying to rebuild their hull, that our air poisons them.”

Taileh closed her eyes. “There’s a problem in the code.”

Neira narrowed her eyes. Did the Great Families’ programmer know about the rogue programmer? “What does that mean?”

“I think you know.”

There were a lot of things Neira didn’t understand about the nanites and the programmer and the “code” that allowed them to tap in and control people with Marks. But she had a terrible feeling that whatever this “problem” was in the code, it had to do with the rogue programmer, the one who had given them a fighting chance.

Taileh’s shoulders sagged. “It means that if the Han can’t get to the pleron, if the programmer can’t remake his nanites, he’s going to kill us all.”

K
IWIDINOK WASN’T AN ISLAND.
A
T
least not like I’d ever seen or experienced. While it was true that I’d spent a great deal of time on this landmass, I hadn’t spent a lot of time exploring it, nor getting to know the real impact of its size.

Spreading our resources out as I did had seemed like good idea at the time, but as we outraced the storm to Lake Chatan, a realization hit me.

The power and the might of the El’Asim Fleet was spread so thin that, even in good weather and clear skies, no help would come for hours. If any of my other ships went down or were in need of assistance, I couldn’t rush to their aid.

And neither could any of my other ships.

What had I been thinking?

I’d been thinking that the Han was attacking on multiple fronts. To counter him in any other fashion would be suicide. Too many lives would be lost.

I’d also been thinking that if Neira thought it was the best idea, then I had to trust her.
We
were supporting
her.
We weren’t the front of this war.

We sped along doing two hundred and ninety kilometres per hour. I was still used to reading my speed in knots, but that was in the much slower
Sammas
. I couldn’t even comprehend how many knots we were flying. A lot. We’d already raced ahead of the storm. That was both a good thing and a bad one. It meant we could engage in battle once we got there.

But it also meant we knew what was coming. That storm was gigantic. A lot of power. A lot of speed. It was one, giant circling mass.

And it was headed inland.

“Admiral,” Wa-sna-win called. “Communication with Lake Chatan, sir.”

I wanted to walk to the communication console and speak directly with Lake Chatan, but restrained myself. Wa-sna-win had proven herself to be extremely competent, and my wanting to take over only showed how out of sorts I was. “Have they had any further sightings of the Han’s men?”

“Yes, sir. They are going around Lake Chatan and are headed north.”

“North?”

“Do we know where they are?” Jamilah asked.

Wa-sna-win shook her head, her hand on her headphone. “No, sir. The last report was that they were headed north.”

I couldn’t understand why Wa-sna-win insisted on calling Jamilah “sir.” Jamilah was a woman. However, there others who were starting to call her “sir” as well.

“We need to scout,” I said to Jamilah. “We need a target.”

Jamilah nodded from her location two steps in front of me.

“No. We need their target. If they aren’t attacking Lake Chatan, then where are they going?”

Jamilah raised an eyebrow. “Kaarle, altimeter?”

“Nine hundred ninety-eight, sir,” he said from his station. “And dropping. The storm is coming in.”

“Lash, take us to flight level forty-five.”

We’d been working and training to use Joshua’s more standard terms of flight, trajectory, pressure, and altitude. It helped to interface with his equipment.

But it still sounded foreign to me. I couldn’t recall what flight level forty-five even was or how high we could be. The only thing I remembered was that the flight level had something to do with the altimeter, and that the radar had something to do with figuring it out.

As great as that all sounded, I still preferred the old ways. However, the old ways wouldn’t have gotten us to Lake Chatan within three hours of dropping Neira off at the southern tip of Kiwidinok. It would have taken us at least a day, if not longer.