“How the malltod did you get that?” Balin asked and then accused, “That’s why you aided us. You knew the map would be here, you two-faced sky hound.”
Zephyr gave an affronted gasp and held a hand to his chest. “I’m hurt that you would say that.”
“Cut the bullshit,” Balin scoffed.
Zephyr dropped his hand with a limp shrug. “I was more than willing to help you, Balin. It just so happened that we had similar purposes.”
“What is the Staff of Metatron?” Damir asked again.
“An ancient artifact. No one knows if it’s even real,” Ramiro answered. “Supposedly it rests in the village of Methuselah, which can be found beyond the Ice Fields in Mount Khamaree. That is, if it even exists.”
“It does,” Zephyr insisted. His eyes were lit with wonder and glistened like sapphires in the sun.
Ramiro continued on as if Zephyr hadn’t spoken. “No one knows the true nature, but legend has it that the staff unlocks the passage to Dwerynef, the Tree of Life.”
A tree of life?
The
Tree of Life? Damir stared at Ramiro skeptically but didn’t press for further information. His priority wasn’t going on a treasure hunt with Zephyr and his band of pirates. They had a more serious matter to tend to.
“What brings you back?” Israel asked, bringing focus to Damir’s concerns.
“We need passage to the capital of Kalrune, Lumixander,” Balin said.
“And you called
me
a sky hound? I don’t think you deserve it. Besides, I don’t need to go to Lumixander. I need to go to Netherlune.” Zephyr raised his nose in the air.
“Please, we must speak with King Auric,” Damir pleaded. Israel elbowed Zephyr in his side, earning an agitated grunt.
“Zephyr,” Israel coaxed softly. He caressed a hand down Zephyr’s arm as if trying to sooth ruffled feathers.
Zephyr gave out a deflated sigh. “Fine.” He turned to Israel. “You owe me.”
Israel smiled, his eyes crinkling behind his glasses. “I’m sure I can think of some way to pay you back.”
“Thank you,” Damir said. He almost hugged the pirate but thought better of it.
“You’ll be working again,” Zephyr warned.
“Of course.” Damir nodded.
“So does this mean I’m back with Pyxis?” Allen asked. He screwed his long nose up. “He snores.”
“Aye, ya will, and you’ll like it,” Zephyr warned.
Allen didn’t argue, but he didn’t look pleased either. Cessna walked down to the control panel.
“Where to, Captain?”
“Lumixander,” Zephyr answered.
Cessna slid into her seat and fired up
Bahamut
. When clearance was granted, they took flight. Damir would never get used to the weightless feeling that overwhelmed him when they first took off.
“Why are you looking for the Staff of Metatron?” Damir asked.
Zephyr broke his dejected stare from the map and glanced over at Damir. His eyes grew glassy, filled with a boundless horizon of possibilities. Damir had seen that look once before on Elina. His heart clenched painfully.
“Are you all right?” Balin whispered.
His hand hovered next to the bend of Damir’s arm. Damir tried to shove aside his melancholy, to focus on the present, but Elina’s death was a fresh wound that refused to heal. There would be no scab.
“Fine,” Damir murmured back. Was he? Even with the distance between him and Balin filled, he still felt like he was floundering. He wanted to avenge, to bring justice for Elina’s carelessly lost life, but that was an uneven path Damir didn’t know if he could walk.
“Wouldn’t you want that?” Zephyr asked, knocking Damir from his thoughts.
“I’m sorry, what?”
Zephyr shook his head, his hands spread wide. “Eternal life. The answers to everything you ever wanted to know, the possibility to bring back what was lost. Boundless knowledge, boundless mortality. They say that the Gaean, the ancients who guard the Staff of Metatron, were the first to come from Dwerynef. That it is where we come from.”
Damir slowly blinked. He knew the origins of mankind. He had read the Scriptures of Genesis. He knew everything about the Holy Scriptures, from beginning to rapturous end. Damir prided himself on being a pious man. But could there truly be a way to find their motherland?
Did man deserve that? Lar had not meant for man to taste immortality, to bear the knowledge of the Child-God. The idea enticed him, though, gave birth to a hope that maybe life could be different.
“I…” Damir opened his mouth and closed it. There was no right answer. Damir shook his head and walked out of the room.
He could hear Zephyr asking behind him, “What? What did I say?”
“Damir, wait!” Balin called out. Damir didn’t fight when Balin pulled him to a stop, his hand a reassuring vice around Damir’s bicep. “Darling.”
“It still hurts,” Damir blurted out. “I know it’s been days and that I should start to make peace with it, but…but I can’t. It hurts. It hurts so bad I can’t even breathe.”
Fresh tears glistened beneath Damir’s eyes. He had thought he had finally run dry, yet there seemed to be an ocean’s worth of tears. Balin drew Damir into his embrace. Damir buried his face in Balin’s chest, inhaled his rich scent, and tried to ground himself several thousand feet in the air.
“You can grieve. No one will fault you. This takes time,” Balin reassured him.
“Will it ever stop? Will the pain go away?” Damir asked. His voice cracked with broken hope.
Balin cradled Damir against his chest and remained silent.
Chapter Twenty
A Brief Stop in Silas
A vial shattered on the floor as
Bahamut
rocked. Damir looked up from where he had been straightening the ointments and asked in panic, “What was that?”
Once they had reached altitude, Zephyr dispersed them. Balin had returned to the engine room to assist Lazarus, and Israel had guided Damir to the clinic.
“I don’t know,” Israel said as he rose from his desk. He moved to the window. The ship rattled again. Israel was forced to grab the counter to keep from falling.
“Shit,” Damir cursed. They exchanged a quick glance, a silent agreement passing between them. Without a word, they rushed off to the cockpit.
Zephyr stood behind Cessna, fuming like a rabid dog, his eyes wild with rage. Balin stepped up behind Damir when he came to a stop near the cockpit. Damir glanced at Balin, and relief eased the tension that had built in his stomach.
“What’s wrong? What is going on?” Israel asked. The cockpit was crowded with the crew members of
Bahamut.
“Left gun is out,” Pyxis called from the navigation panel.
“Fucking malltod!” Zephyr roared. “It’s that blasted sky bitch, Belladonna.”
“Who?” Balin asked.
“
Nautilus
approaches!” Pyxis shouted over Balin.
Zephyr shoved past them and sprinted out of the cockpit. Israel followed behind. Damir could hear Ramiro shout to Lazarus to man the right cannon as he and Balin trailed Israel. Israel pulled Zephyr down from the ladder he mounted.
“You are not confronting her,” Israel snapped.
“Watch me.” Zephyr challenged.
“Who is Belladonna?” Damir asked.
“A fucking nightmare in the sky. That spawn of Cythra has followed me whereever I go, stealing treasure and damaging my ship.” Zephyr spat each word venomously and and knocked Israel’s hands away. He tried to climb up again, but Israel dragged him down again.
“Damn it, Israel!” Zephyr roared.
“But why?” Damir asked.
“Because I took something of hers!” Zephyr shouted. His voice boomed in the confined space of the hall. “She won’t stop until I return it.”
Damir held his ground. Zephyr was obviously riled by the presence of the other pirate. What could have been so important to hold on to that he was willing to allow her to follow him relentlessly? Israel grabbed Zephyr’s arm and squeezed, whispering, “If you go up there, you know she’ll attack you.”
“No,” Zephyr snarled. He ascended the ladder once more, and this time, Israel followed him up. Damir and Balin climbed all the way to the top deck.
Wind blasted Damir’s face as he pulled himself onto the deck. A ship cut across the sky and blotted out the sun.
Nautilus
was a large ship with a set of wide wings and a long, spiny tail. The front hull of the ship was encased in a glass dome, a crystal eye that glared down on
Bahamut. Nautilus
’s aether ring spun slowly, cut like waves.
Israel grabbed Zephyr’s arm once more and hauled him back. Standing on the deck of
Nautilus
was a brazen woman with waist-length raven tresses and a muscular form. One eye glared out at them with more disdain and conviction than Damir knew possible. The leather eye patch that covered her other eye did little to distract from her beauty.
“Hand over the map, Zephyr, and I won’t destroy your precious
Bahamut
,” Belladonna called down. The long frock she wore billowed behind her like a set of navy wings.
“Burn in hell, you one-eyed bitch!” Zephyr drew his pistol from his side and aimed at her. Israel grabbed Zephyr’s arm and jerked it to the side, causing the bullet to ricochet several feet from Belladonna.
“Damn it, Israel!” Zephyr shouted.
“Still allowing him to fight your battles for you, aye, Zeph?” Belladonna cackled, her head thrown back and hair whipping around her slim face.
“I will see you in malltod!” Zephyr shook Israel off his arm and took aim once more.
“Balin! Damir! Help!” Israel cried.
“Not before you,” Belladonna snarled. “Now I’ll give you one more chance. Hand over that map, or I’ll shoot your ship down!”
Damir latched on to Zephyr’s arm, his teeth snapped tightly together. Balin gave a grunt when Zephyr elbowed him in the gut, but grabbed ahold of the man and hauled him backward. They managed to wedge Zephyr down the ladder, forcing him to descend with Balin following. Damir hesitated at the top of the ladder. He could make out a familiar glow radiating from Israel.
“Leave us in peace, Belladonna. You will not take what Zephyr has fought so hard for,” Israel called to her.
“Why you defend him, Brother, why you stay with him, I will never know. I will see to it, though, that he never finds happiness, just like he made sure I’d never have mine!” Belladonna cried.
Damir lowered himself down the rungs. Balin and Zephyr were waiting for him on the first level. Zephyr ran into the cockpit, shouting, “Where is he? Damn it, Israel! Ramiro, have Lazarus prepare for fire!”
Bahamut
rocked as if caught in turbulence. Light exploded around the ship like a heavily charged supernova. A great cry echoed in the afternoon sky. Damir moved around the cockpit, straining to see what had happened. A colossal bird shot around the side of
Bahamut
. Stars glittered along the swan’s prodigious white wings, which expanded a grand twenty feet. The graceful line of the swan’s neck bent as it let out another cry. Damir could see the Milky Way trail behind him, as if the ancient bird carried the galaxy on its wings.
“Son of a bitch!” Zephyr yelled.
Balin let out a curse. The bird twisted its humongous body around
Bahamut
. Belladonna had vanished from the deck of
Nautilus
. Gatling guns rose in her place.
“Brace for impact!” Lazarus shouted.
A torrent of bullets slammed into
Bahamut
. Damir dropped to the floor and covered his head. Then a wave of blinding light encompassed
Bahamut
, a white corona that silenced the bullets. The ship rocked unsteadily in the air.
Damir slowly lowered his hands and looked up. A shield had formed around them, protecting them from
Nautilus
’s attack. Damir looked at Balin, who rose to his feet when the glass didn’t break.
For several strained moments, they waited in silence and watched as the light brightly burned. Then like a tide, it began to recede.
Nautilus
was gone when the last starlight went out.
“We’ve got damage portside,” Pyxis announced.
“Take care of it, Ramiro,” Zephyr said to his first mate as he returned to the elevators. Damir followed, wanting to see for himself.
They rode up to the deck in silence. The light that emitted from Israel was the same one that came from Damir. He had no doubt that the swan that had come to save them was Israel. Damir wanted to ply him with questions, questions that simmered in Damir’s mind, ready to boil over. But he held his tongue. They could wait. At the moment, making sure Israel was all right was what mattered.
Zephyr stepped out and looked around. For a panicked moment, Damir was afraid Israel had dropped to the sea. Then his gaze fell on the naked form curled on top of the deck, the vines still writhing on his body.
“Shit.” Zephyr crossed over to him.
“Is he all right?” Damir asked as he crouched beside Zephyr.
Zephyr’s hands trailed down the lean body, and then he gathered the medicus in his arms. Israel’s glasses hung from the chain on his ear, one lens shattered.
“Wake up, love,” Zephyr murmured.
Damir reached out and checked his pulse. It was weak but determined, like the shallow beat of butterfly wings. “Take him down to the medic ward,” Damir ordered. “I can heal him.”
Zephyr stroked his hand down Israel’s smooth cheek, pushed the bangs from his forehead. Israel’s brows knotted together, and a soft groan escaped him. He drew in a ragged breath and let it out in a sputtering cough. Zephyr tightened his hold on Israel, one hand rubbing his back.
“That’s it; let it out. Shh, easy. I got you, love. I got you,” Zephyr whispered over and over.
Damir leaned on his haunches. He would have returned to the elevator shaft if he wasn’t so sure any movement would have shattered the moment. He averted his eyes as Zephyr pressed a kiss to Israel’s forehead.
Israel let out a shaky breath, drawing Damir’s attention. The medicus gripped Zephyr’s shoulder. Their lips met in a gentle kiss.
“I told you not to do that anymore,” Zephyr whispered against Israel’s mouth.
“You would have killed her,” Israel murmured.
Zephyr shook his head and hugged Israel closer. After a moment, he curled his arms beneath Israel’s back and the crook of his knees and lifted him.