Read Online The Blood Debt by Sean Williams - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Sean Williams
Ads: Link
know, but they’re mean and they’re in a hurry. And they’re dropping things as they go.’ She indicated the flyers again. ‘Normally there’d be just a half-dozen of them out there at this time of day. Not now. Every able flyer has been called in to take advantage of the situation. There’s lots of stuff out there just waiting to be harvested. All you have to do is pick it up.’
She sighed. ‘Of all the times to lose my wing, it’d have to be now.’
There was a look of yearning in her eyes that reminded Skender of how frustrated and stifled he had been before his adventures outside the Keep. He felt for her, but his mind was simultaneously working on his own problem. He’d assumed that his mother’s party had headed for the tunnels of Laure to look for the thing they sought. But if the tunnels were mined out, that was exactly the wrong place to look.
A dark smudge on the far edge of the Divide drew his gaze and held it. Laure was half a city. Before the Divide had come along, it had been whole. Therefore, the tunnels that now gaped into empty air once connected to matching tunnels on the other side — under the forbidden Ruin called the Aad.
Right idea, he told himself; wrong place. All he had to do was get across the Divide and under the Aad to see if he was right.
However, Chu’s description of the Ruin was still vivid in his mind. Disease; bad luck; inhabited by creatures of the Divide ...
‘Judging by your face,’ she said, ‘you’ve just worked out where your mother is.’
He nodded despondently. ‘And a fat lot of good it does me. How in the Goddess’s name am I going to get over there?’
‘There is a way, but it’s going to be tricky. When a miner finds something big in the Divide, too big for her to carry herself, she flashes for a heavy lifter from the city.’
‘Flashes?’
‘By mirror.’ She waved that explanation away. ‘The heavy lifters are dirigibles with ropes and hooks designed to pick up just about anything from above. They’re slow but reliable. Although they don’t usually go that far, we could get across the Divide and return with your mother, and whoever she has with her.’
‘That sounds good,’ he said. ‘How do I go about organising it?’
‘That depends on whether you have enough money to charter a lifter.’
‘I might have, depending on how much it costs.’
She named a figure that made his head spin. For a brief moment he considered selling the buggy, which was locked securely in an empty camel stall under the hostel he’d booked into. But that was a mad idea; he had to get home somehow, once all this was over.
‘Okay, so that’s out.’ She looked through the gap at her peers hurling themselves boldly into the sky. ‘There are only two other ways to go about it. The first and most obvious is to petition the Magister.’
Skender nodded. The Magister was the head of the yadachi, and had ruled Laure for thirty thirsty years.
‘Do you think she’ll help us?’
‘That old vampire? Given my record and where you’re from, she’s more likely to throw us in the brig just for asking.’
‘Great. So what’s the second way?’
‘We steal what we need and worry about the consequences later.’
‘Are you joking?’
She shook her head. ‘I’m renowned for two things: the ability to fly and the inability to stay out of trouble. Neither requires much of a sense of humour.’
‘You could’ve fooled me,’ he muttered. ‘Looks like you’re having a great time at my expense.’
‘Hard though it might be to believe, watching you squirm isn’t what I was put on the Earth for. It’s just a consolation prize.’
He had to admit that she’d stopped smiling some time ago.
‘Okay,’ he said, resigning himself to the situation. ‘We try the Magister first. Whether you say it’ll work or not, we have to give it a go. And if she doesn’t see it our way —’
‘We renegotiate. Right.’ She took one last look
She sighed. ‘Of all the times to lose my wing, it’d have to be now.’
There was a look of yearning in her eyes that reminded Skender of how frustrated and stifled he had been before his adventures outside the Keep. He felt for her, but his mind was simultaneously working on his own problem. He’d assumed that his mother’s party had headed for the tunnels of Laure to look for the thing they sought. But if the tunnels were mined out, that was exactly the wrong place to look.
A dark smudge on the far edge of the Divide drew his gaze and held it. Laure was half a city. Before the Divide had come along, it had been whole. Therefore, the tunnels that now gaped into empty air once connected to matching tunnels on the other side — under the forbidden Ruin called the Aad.
Right idea, he told himself; wrong place. All he had to do was get across the Divide and under the Aad to see if he was right.
However, Chu’s description of the Ruin was still vivid in his mind. Disease; bad luck; inhabited by creatures of the Divide ...
‘Judging by your face,’ she said, ‘you’ve just worked out where your mother is.’
He nodded despondently. ‘And a fat lot of good it does me. How in the Goddess’s name am I going to get over there?’
‘There is a way, but it’s going to be tricky. When a miner finds something big in the Divide, too big for her to carry herself, she flashes for a heavy lifter from the city.’
‘Flashes?’
‘By mirror.’ She waved that explanation away. ‘The heavy lifters are dirigibles with ropes and hooks designed to pick up just about anything from above. They’re slow but reliable. Although they don’t usually go that far, we could get across the Divide and return with your mother, and whoever she has with her.’
‘That sounds good,’ he said. ‘How do I go about organising it?’
‘That depends on whether you have enough money to charter a lifter.’
‘I might have, depending on how much it costs.’
She named a figure that made his head spin. For a brief moment he considered selling the buggy, which was locked securely in an empty camel stall under the hostel he’d booked into. But that was a mad idea; he had to get home somehow, once all this was over.
‘Okay, so that’s out.’ She looked through the gap at her peers hurling themselves boldly into the sky. ‘There are only two other ways to go about it. The first and most obvious is to petition the Magister.’
Skender nodded. The Magister was the head of the yadachi, and had ruled Laure for thirty thirsty years.
‘Do you think she’ll help us?’
‘That old vampire? Given my record and where you’re from, she’s more likely to throw us in the brig just for asking.’
‘Great. So what’s the second way?’
‘We steal what we need and worry about the consequences later.’
‘Are you joking?’
She shook her head. ‘I’m renowned for two things: the ability to fly and the inability to stay out of trouble. Neither requires much of a sense of humour.’
‘You could’ve fooled me,’ he muttered. ‘Looks like you’re having a great time at my expense.’
‘Hard though it might be to believe, watching you squirm isn’t what I was put on the Earth for. It’s just a consolation prize.’
He had to admit that she’d stopped smiling some time ago.
‘Okay,’ he said, resigning himself to the situation. ‘We try the Magister first. Whether you say it’ll work or not, we have to give it a go. And if she doesn’t see it our way —’
‘We renegotiate. Right.’ She took one last look
Similar Books
