The Conjuring Man, page 30
Lilith stood. Adam tried not to stare. He wanted to and yet, he wasn’t sure how she’d react now they’d crossed a line. It was different for girls. He was glad to have lost his virginity and yet, from what he’d heard, she might regret it. She might ... he knew she could regrow her maidenhead through magic, or so he’d been told, but it wouldn’t be the same. She would know she was no longer a virgin, even if the rest of the world believed otherwise.
“I need a shower,” Lilith said. “And then ... I think we need to do some work on the airship.”
“Yeah,” Adam said. His clothes were ruined. He’d need to change ... he wondered, suddenly, if someone in the dorm would notice he hadn’t slept there last night. It wasn’t a boarding house, one ruled by a woman who’d tut if her guests didn’t return before curfew, but still ... “What do they want us to do?”
Lilith turned away. Adam watched, admiring the curve of her back and buttocks ... his manhood stiffened again, and he felt a near-uncontrollable urge to follow her into the shower, to make love to her amidst the water, before pushing it firmly back into the depths of his mind. Lilith didn’t need to be crowded, not now. He wanted to stay with her and, at the same time, he wanted to be alone long enough to process his own feelings. He was no longer a virgin and ...
He leaned back as he heard the sound of running water, then smiled as he saw her clothes rise from the floor and float into the washroom. Lilith was showing off her power ... he wondered, suddenly, what she’d do about a top. Wrap herself in a glamour? Or ... he smiled, again, as he stood and poked through the wardrobe. Some helpful soul had left behind an oversized shirt, so large it would look like a dress on her. He put it on the bed and frowned as he saw nothing else, not even a pair of pants. He’d just have to head back to the dorm without a top. Luckily, no one would pass comment on it.
Lilith emerged, looking clean and fresh. “I’ll see you down at the airship,” she said, with nary a mention of breakfast. “Have fun.”
Adam smiled, feeling a twinge of unease as he stepped into the shower. What was the protocol for the morning after the night before? He’d heard all the stories, but they were nonsense ... worse than nonsense, because someone might take them seriously. The water washed down his body, sweeping away their juices ... his stomach clenched at the thought, wondering who – if anyone – would deal with the bedding. He dried himself, stripped the bed, and went back into the shower for another wash. It was enough of a mindless task to keep him from thinking. And yet ...
He felt weirdly exposed as he made his way back to the dorm to change into a shirt and trousers, then head back down to the airship. Everyone seemed to be looking at him as if they knew what he’d been doing, even though they had no reason to know. Adam snorted at the thought as he grabbed a pair of breakfast bars and scrambled up the ladder into the airship. Lilith would be hungry. The sun insisted it was late morning and she hadn’t had any breakfast.
“Ah, Adam,” Praxis said, when Adam entered the bridge. Captain Harkness stood next to him, one hand resting on the steering wheel. “We could use your help in the engineering room.”
Adam nodded. Praxis knew ... did he? Adam wasn’t sure. Yvonne would have picked up on it at once – women tended to be far more perceptive than men about such things – but Praxis? He wondered, numbly, what – if anything – the enchanter would do. Masters were supposed to let their apprentices have social lives, but some didn’t honour the rule. If he thought Adam was distracting Lilith ... Adam shook his head and headed down to the engineering deck, putting the thought aside. If there were consequences, he’d deal with them.
You should ask if she used contraceptive charms, a little voice whispered at the back of his mind. If she didn’t, you need to prepare to marry her.
He told that voice to shut up as he stepped into the compartment. Lilith was already there, working on a piece of spell circuitry tied into the engines. She glanced up and gave him a shy smile, which grew wider as he passed her the ration bar. It might taste foul – there were no shortage of horror stories about precisely what went into the rations – but it was better than nothing. They’d slept too late to go to the hall for breakfast.
“There’s some maintenance work to be done,” Yvonne said. Adam tried not to jump. He hadn’t heard her coming into the compartment behind him until she opened her mouth. “You can assist Jayne in doing it.”
Adam nodded – there was no point in arguing, and besides, he wasn’t allowed to return to his workroom – and followed Jayne into the next compartment. Jayne reminded him of Taffy – a young woman trying to make her way in a man’s world – although she seemed far too impressed with him for his peace of mind. But then, Taffy had known him before he’d cracked the secrets of background magic and runic tiles. Adam did his best to look attentive as she talked him through what she wanted him to do, then let him get on with it. It was grimy work, but he didn’t care. The airship design had a beautiful simplicity that made sense. His lips quirked at the thought. Magic could be unpredictable sometimes, even if you followed instructions to the letter. Technology did what it was told, as long as you put it together properly. The rules didn’t change at random.
He worked for hours, finding it hard to keep his mind on the task at hand. His thoughts kept drifting back to Lilith, and the night they’d spent together. He wanted to go and speak to her, to ask her what she was thinking and feeling, and yet he feared what would happen if he tried. What would she say? What would her masters say? What would her father ... a dull quiver ran through the airship, followed by a roar as the engines came to life. Adam straightened, nearly bashing his head against the low ceiling. They were leaving?
“Attention,” Captain Harkness said. His voice boomed through the gondola. “The army has put out a call for assistance. We are departing in two minutes. If you don’t want to accompany us, go to the ladder now.”
Adam hesitated as he stepped back from his work and closed the hatch. He could go ... he knew he had no place on the airship, not now, but there was no point in staying at the university. He couldn’t continue his work or go down to Heart’s Ease ... not alone. He stood and stepped into the next compartment, the engine noises growing louder. Lilith was speaking to a man he didn’t recognise – a nasty twinge of jealousy shot through him, even though the man was part of the crew – and pointing to the engines. She looked up, smiled and came over to join him. Adam told himself he was being silly.
“I have to stay with the airship,” Lilith told him. “Yvonne and Praxis went to a staff meeting and they can’t get back in time.”
“Then I’ll stay too,” Adam said. He wasn’t fool enough to think he could protect her, if they ran into trouble, but the idea of leaving her to go into danger without him was unthinkable. “Where are we going?”
“Somewhere past Lenovo, I guess,” Lilith said. The deck quivered, the dull engine thrumming rapidly rising to a crescendo. “The army wouldn’t have called for help unless it was urgent.”
Adam nodded, grimly, as he followed her into the lower observation deck. The ground was already falling away, the university little more than a toy castle in the distance. The airship was surprisingly fast, certainly when compared to a man on foot, but there were limits. A dragon could outpace Voidsdaughter without even trying, while a witch on a pitchfork ... he frowned as the spotters joined them, telescopes sweeping the ground below for potential threats. Captain Blademaster had suggested a whole host of possible tactics the enemy could use, if they wanted to bring down the airship, and some of them might just work. Adam shivered at the thought. A man who jumped overboard when his ship was sinking might survive, if he was lucky, but a man who fell from the airship was dead. He didn’t know anyone who had any faith in the parachutes.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” the spotter leader barked. “The army ran into real trouble.”
Lilith pressed up against Adam. Her voice was low. “You’d think they’d give us some real details, wouldn’t you?”
Adam nodded. The army had been meant to go on the offensive at first light, from what he recalled, and ... and it had already run into trouble? The king must have been mounting his own offensive and the two armies had run into each other, or something. There was a popular song about two armies that had met and clashed briefly, before both sides retreated leaving outside observers unsure of who had won. If that happened here ...
He stayed next to her as the hours wore on, the airship making a wide detour around Farrakhan before continuing the flight east. The spotters kept moving, their eyes fixed on the ground below. Adam couldn’t see anything himself, certainly nothing larger than a field or river. He’d been told the telescopes could pick out a child walking along a road, but he wasn’t so sure. From so high, people just tended to blur into their surroundings.
Lilith looked up, sharply. “Crap!”
The airship shook. Adam stumbled, metal screeching in agony as something hit the side. Magic? It was impossible. Offensive magic couldn’t break through the airship’s defences. And yet ... he thought he saw, just for a second, the edge of the lower gondola twist before it broke, glass exploding outwards and plummeting towards the ground far below. The rush of wind caught him by surprise. A pair of spotters, too close to the edge, fell through and vanished. There was no time to save them ...
He looked up. There was no way to see anything directly above the gondola – the gasbag was blocking his view – but he could see the air shimmering, as if something very hot had materialised right above them. Lilith bit out a curse as dark figures swung around the gasbag and crashed into the gondola, the sound of shattering glass and metal echoing through the airship as it staggered again. Adam realised, to his horror, that the airship was being boarded. The enemy had opened a portal directly above the airship and dropped the landing party onto the gasbag ...
We never considered a boarding party, he thought, numbly. The enemy must have known the airship would come in response to a distress call and planned their ambush accordingly ... hell, they might have built their own magic detector and used it to determine the airship’s precise location. And we don’t have enough men to fight them off.
His hand dropped to his pistol and wand. He didn’t have many bullets. Lilith had her magic, but the spotters were unharmed. Men were already crashing down the corridor towards them ... he felt his hair stand on end an instant before a fireball burst into the compartment and flew harmlessly through the shattered windows. There was a magician out there, perhaps even Arnold himself. Lilith tensed against him, casting a spell ... it seemed ineffectual. The airship heaved again, violently. It felt as if they were about to fall out of the sky.
“Adam,” Lilith said. “I love you.”
Adam blinked. It was the first time she’d ever used the love word to him, ever. He wanted to say the same, but the words caught in his throat. And then she cast a spell.
His body froze. He could neither move nor speak, nor breathe. And then she levitated him forward – he caught a glimpse of her tear-streaked face – and pushed him out the nearest window ...
... And he fell.
Chapter Thirty-Two
... And fell.
Adam’s body fell like a stone, wrapped in Lilith’s magic. He struggled, unable to move so much as a single muscle, as his body tumbled over and over again. He saw the airship and then the ground coming towards him at a terrifying speed, and then the airship again ... an instant before the ground came up and hit him. The magic protected him from the impact, protecting him so thoroughly he didn’t feel a thing, but ... he lay at the bottom of a crater, still unable to move. It was sheer luck he’d landed on his back, sheer luck he could see the airship slowly turn and heading east. The enemy portal was gone and ...
Despair overwhelmed him. He was trapped, unable to move, and Lilith ... his mind ran in circles, fearing the worst. And yet, what was the worst? Was she dead? A prisoner? Or had she betrayed them after the night they’d spent together ... he quashed that thought rapidly, before it could take root. She had had ample opportunity to betray him, if that was what she wished. Instead ... the memory of the previous night warmed him, even as he struggled against invisible bonds. The airship glided out of sight and vanished.
The spell broke, so suddenly it caught him by surprise. His body collapsed so violently he felt as if he’d fallen out of bed, the impact jarring him even though he’d barely fallen any distance at all. He yelped as his body cramped, every last muscle howling in agony as the last of the spell dropped away. For a horrible moment, he thought he would never walk again before the pain slowly – very slowly – faded to nothing. He rolled over, feeling dirt against his bare skin, and stood on wobbly legs. The airship was nowhere to be seen. A handful of chunks of debris lay on the ground nearby, but no bodies. He feared they’d been smashed to pieces.
She saved my life, he thought. Pride ran through him, followed by shame. His girlfriend – his lover – was in enemy hands. He should be with her, even though he knew he could do nothing to save her from the coming horrors. What would Arnold do to her? Adam’s imagination provided too many possibilities, each one worse than the last. I need to get to her.
He looked east. The airship had flown east, towards Lokane. If he started walking now ... common sense caught up with him a second later. It would take days to walk to the capital city, if he didn’t run into the enemy army along the way. They’d probably just lop off his head and press on, without ever knowing who they’d killed. But what else could he do? He turned and looked back, towards Lenovo and Farrakhan beyond. There were portals in the city, weren’t there? Unless Lenovo had been retaken ... he refused to consider the possibility as he stumbled into motion, his aching legs complaining loudly as he staggered through the field. He’d get back to the university, rally the troops and then find a way to get her back. Or avenge her death.
Arnold will want her alive, he told himself. It wasn’t much, and the thought of depending on his archenemy to save his girlfriend was absurd, but it was all he had. He won’t let her be killed, not if he can help it.
It wasn’t a reassuring thought. Lilith could have fallen out of the airship after him and hit the ground. He hadn’t seen her fall, let alone a body, but that was meaningless. Or ... he swallowed, hard, trying not to think of the other possibilities. Someone could have cut her throat or rendered her powerless before having his way with her, or simply ... no, he didn’t want to think about it. And yet, his mind kept insisting on bringing up the possibilities, each one a nightmarish end for the girl he’d come to love. If she was dead, he promised himself, he’d burn down the capital for her funeral pyre. It wouldn’t bring her back – nothing would – but it would avenge her death ...
He frowned as he crossed the edge of a small farm. He was no expert – he’d never seen a farm, until now – but it looked weirdly deserted. The crops had been scattered, the animal pens empty ... he shuddered, suddenly, as he saw the remains of the farmhouse. It looked as though it had been struck by an angry god, the roof caved in and the walls on the verge of collapse. He forced himself to inch closer, one hand on his pistol, and peer inside. The interior had been wrecked, but there were no bodies. He couldn’t help finding that ominous. Either the farm had been abandoned, the farmers fleeing east or west, or ... they were dead. And that meant ...? He shook his head, unease running down his spine. He’d been told the king’s troops rarely bothered to bury the bodies, so where were they?
Perhaps they were just conscripted, he thought, although it didn’t seem right. Or ...
He looked around, then resumed his walk. The air was quiet, weirdly so. Taffy had told him it was never truly quiet in the countryside and yet, he couldn’t hear anything beyond his own breathing. No animals, no birds, no unseen rodents running through the hedges and fields ... he kept his hand on his pistol, ready to draw it at a moment’s notice as he crossed a patchy hedge that was clearly a boundary line marking where one farm ended and another began. The second farm was just as deserted as the first, the farmhouse – again – in ruins. And there was something odd about the remains ...
Something I’m missing, he thought. There were hints of a struggle, in the dirt and muck outside the farmhouse, but – again – no bodies. What am I not seeing?
Adam kept moving, passing through a tiny set of ditches and patchwork fields as the light started to dim. Evening already? Ice shot down his spine as it dawned on him he wasn’t sure how long he’d been frozen. His body would have had to pass through the defences surrounding the airship, and if the spell had failed, he would have plunged to his death. Lilith was the only person, perhaps, who could have kept the spell active long enough to save him and, to do that, she would have had to massively overpower it. His heart skipped a beat as he realised what that might have meant for her. She might not have had the power to defend herself when the enemy broke into the compartment ... he clenched his teeth, telling himself she’d be fine, promising himself he’d avenge her, as he kept moving. And then he heard the growl.
He froze. The growl hadn’t been human, not even remotely so. And yet ... he turned slightly, peering through the gathering twilight. What was in the countryside? It was rare, he’d been told, for anyone to walk outside their homes after dark, for fear of what they might meet. He’d always thought it was a superstition, until now ... a humanoid shape moved, then another and another, so half-hidden in the darkness it took him a moment to realise what they were. Orcs. His blood ran cold. They might be shambling parodies of humanity, but they were tough. Very tough. And the kingdom, in the wake of the last war, had enslaved thousands of the half-human beasts.
