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Authors: Clayton Emery
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city. Enclaves drifted north in summer and south in winter. “Oh. That’s Ioulaum,” she said. “It’s easy to recognize.” In three hundred years it hadn’t changed much.
“And in three hundred and fifty-five years,” Sunbright added, “it’ll fall and shatter, scattering buildings and people like an anthill kicked apart.”
Thief and shaman watched the city drift. It went slower than the wind, for the massive mythallar, the dweomer engine, could drive it in any direction decreed by the archwizards and city council.
The pair watched the city-mountain float, and Sunbright mused, “Too bad we can’t get up there. Perhaps we could see the whole world, look down and see my people waving. Or at least shooting arrows at it.” He joked because memories of floating a mile high in the air in Castle Delia, and then Karsus Enclave, set his stomach churning. He’d never been comfortable in the air.
Knucklebones gazed wistfully on the city, for sometimes she found Sunbright’s “groundling” world too wide. She often longed for the cozy confines of the city, its varied buildings and parks and houses, the tangled caves and tunnels and warrens that honeycombed the former mountain.
As Sunbright’s jest penetrated, the woman mused, “That’s not such a foolish notion …”
“What?” Sunbright frowned. “Looking down from the city to see my tribe is impossible. And the guards would never let us board an airboat.”
“But you can see the world from up there,” Knucklebones insisted. “Not directly, but some ways, and getting up is no problem. Every door has a key. Trust a sewer rat.”
“No! No, I say!”
But it was too late, Sunbright saw the floating enclave reflected in Knucklebones’s one eye. He wished he’d kept his mouth shut.
Chapter 5
“I can’t get my head out!”
“Let me help.”
With small, strong hands, Knucklebones grabbed Sunbright’s chin and forelock, and jerked. The barbarian yelped as his ears scraped between stacks of grain bags.
“Aggh! Lady of Silver, I could have done that!”
Gingerly he felt his ears, testing for blood.
“Cheap bribe, bad ride,” she told him flatly. “Now hush up.”
“I can’t hear you. My ears are shredded. How do we get out of here?”
Knucklebones pointed to a tiny sunlit window high up in the deserted warehouse. “Scale the wall,” she said, “slip through, and hope there’s something soft to jump on outside.”
“Pandem’s Pain, what fun. Go ahead.”
Sniffing, Knucklebones led the way. She felt cocky and happy now that they’d made it onto a floating enclave. Home, for her. Asking in Quagmire, she’d found a tavern, then a boatmaster with a shipment of grain bound for Ioulaum. There were many shipments as the city stocked up for winter before drifting south. The tipsy boatmaster had agreed, after haggling over the “fare,” to pack them in a hollow behind sacks of rye. Sunbright had clamped down on his stomach as the airboat lifted into the night sky, drifted, tacked, dropped and lurched in capricious air pockets, and finally docked, a mile in the air, at the spidery airdocks of Ioulaum. After his boat was towed into a warehouse, the boatmaster wandered offafter finishing the requisite paperworkleaving the boat temporarily “deserted.”
The thief scaled the wooden wall with fingers and toes, chuckling at how easy and familiar it felt, slid out the window, and circled to open a door so Sunbright could walk through. “Sissy!” she teased.
“Sewer rat!”
“Hush up! I smell guards.”
Then she was flitting down damp, dark alleys like a moth while Sunbright splashed and stamped and huffed to keep up. As she listened at a corner, he asked, “You’ve never been here before, correct? So how do you know your way around?”
“There are maps of all the enclaves in the libraries. When things got hot we studied them, trying to decide if moving was practical.”
“But where are we bound?”
“Thieves’
“And in three hundred and fifty-five years,” Sunbright added, “it’ll fall and shatter, scattering buildings and people like an anthill kicked apart.”
Thief and shaman watched the city drift. It went slower than the wind, for the massive mythallar, the dweomer engine, could drive it in any direction decreed by the archwizards and city council.
The pair watched the city-mountain float, and Sunbright mused, “Too bad we can’t get up there. Perhaps we could see the whole world, look down and see my people waving. Or at least shooting arrows at it.” He joked because memories of floating a mile high in the air in Castle Delia, and then Karsus Enclave, set his stomach churning. He’d never been comfortable in the air.
Knucklebones gazed wistfully on the city, for sometimes she found Sunbright’s “groundling” world too wide. She often longed for the cozy confines of the city, its varied buildings and parks and houses, the tangled caves and tunnels and warrens that honeycombed the former mountain.
As Sunbright’s jest penetrated, the woman mused, “That’s not such a foolish notion …”
“What?” Sunbright frowned. “Looking down from the city to see my tribe is impossible. And the guards would never let us board an airboat.”
“But you can see the world from up there,” Knucklebones insisted. “Not directly, but some ways, and getting up is no problem. Every door has a key. Trust a sewer rat.”
“No! No, I say!”
But it was too late, Sunbright saw the floating enclave reflected in Knucklebones’s one eye. He wished he’d kept his mouth shut.
Chapter 5
“I can’t get my head out!”
“Let me help.”
With small, strong hands, Knucklebones grabbed Sunbright’s chin and forelock, and jerked. The barbarian yelped as his ears scraped between stacks of grain bags.
“Aggh! Lady of Silver, I could have done that!”
Gingerly he felt his ears, testing for blood.
“Cheap bribe, bad ride,” she told him flatly. “Now hush up.”
“I can’t hear you. My ears are shredded. How do we get out of here?”
Knucklebones pointed to a tiny sunlit window high up in the deserted warehouse. “Scale the wall,” she said, “slip through, and hope there’s something soft to jump on outside.”
“Pandem’s Pain, what fun. Go ahead.”
Sniffing, Knucklebones led the way. She felt cocky and happy now that they’d made it onto a floating enclave. Home, for her. Asking in Quagmire, she’d found a tavern, then a boatmaster with a shipment of grain bound for Ioulaum. There were many shipments as the city stocked up for winter before drifting south. The tipsy boatmaster had agreed, after haggling over the “fare,” to pack them in a hollow behind sacks of rye. Sunbright had clamped down on his stomach as the airboat lifted into the night sky, drifted, tacked, dropped and lurched in capricious air pockets, and finally docked, a mile in the air, at the spidery airdocks of Ioulaum. After his boat was towed into a warehouse, the boatmaster wandered offafter finishing the requisite paperworkleaving the boat temporarily “deserted.”
The thief scaled the wooden wall with fingers and toes, chuckling at how easy and familiar it felt, slid out the window, and circled to open a door so Sunbright could walk through. “Sissy!” she teased.
“Sewer rat!”
“Hush up! I smell guards.”
Then she was flitting down damp, dark alleys like a moth while Sunbright splashed and stamped and huffed to keep up. As she listened at a corner, he asked, “You’ve never been here before, correct? So how do you know your way around?”
“There are maps of all the enclaves in the libraries. When things got hot we studied them, trying to decide if moving was practical.”
“But where are we bound?”
“Thieves’
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