The Conjuring Man, page 4
“This way,” Taffy said, leading them down a thin corridor. “Keep your hands to yourselves.”
Lilith cleared her throat. “How very ... reassuring.”
“It gets to everyone at first,” Taffy said. A faint shudder ran through the gondola, a faint sense the airship wasn’t on firm ground. “They had us bedding down for the last few nights, just to get used to being on the airship. Some of us couldn’t take it at all.”
Adam nodded as the floor – the deck, he mentally corrected himself – shifted again. It felt as if he’d stepped onto a ship, one resting in the middle of a crude harbour, and yet ... he’d expected it to feel like the hot air balloon, not something else. The dull quiver running through the gondola was a grim reminder it was something new, something that would change the world ...
Taffy was still talking. “We worked control wires through the gondola and the gas bag, allowing us to steer once we take her into the air,” she said. “In theory, we can steer against the wind; in practice, it may be very tricky. We’re not sure what’ll happen when we get up there.”
“You could fly a broomstick and see,” Lilith suggested. “Or would that be different?”
“We think so,” Taffy said. “There are no levitation or flying spells worked into the airship’s hull. Quite what that’ll mean for us we don’t know – and we won’t until we take off and find out. A broomstick can fly against the wind, or so we are told. An airship? We don’t know.”
Adam opened his mouth to ask another question, then closed it again as they stepped into the engine room. It was ... he felt his head swim, his impressions coming in fits and starts as craftsmen swarmed over great pieces of machinery. He caught sight of Senior Craftswoman Yvonne standing by one of the devices, barking orders to a handful of junior craftsmen as they pushed the machine into place. Her partner, Enchanter Praxis, was nearby, directing a team of magicians as they installed the first set of runic tiles. Adam tried not to curse under his breath as he saw Jasper standing with the others. Enchanter Praxis would keep an eye on him, but still ...
A dull thud ran through the airship as the device was shoved into position and locked into the hull. Adam felt his legs shake, unable to escape the impression one boat had just rammed into another. He’d grown up in a harbour town, and he’d been swimming and sailing since he’d learnt to walk, and yet ... there was something disconcerting about the airship. It felt different ... he wondered, idly, if hiring sailors to work on the hull had been as good an idea as everyone had thought when the airship had been little more than designs on paper. The airship wasn’t a steamboat. It was something new.
Yvonne made her way over to them, dismissing the rest of her crew. She looked tired and yet accomplished, very accomplished. Adam understood. The airship really was something new. No matter what happened, no one would be able to take her accomplishment from her. He smiled back at her, then raised an eyebrow as he saw Valerie Hunt step away from the hull and follow Yvonne. The reporter was scribbling notes even as she walked. Adam wondered who’d read the broadsheet, now the university was cut off from much of the world. There weren’t enough people in the nearby town to keep it going.
“So,” Yvonne said. “What do you think?”
“Awesome,” Adam said. “Awesome and disconcerting.”
“Very disconcerting,” Lilith said. “Does this thing really fly?”
“Yes.” There was no doubt in Yvonne’s voice. “The gasbag will get us into the air, once we undo the tethers and start heating the gas. Steering will be slightly more of a problem, once we get up there, and we’ll have to do a lot of experimenting before we have it down to an exact science, but we are sure we can do it. And then the world will change.”
“Again,” Lilith said. “What happens if the gasbag leaks? Or gets punctured?”
“The gasbag is divided into a number of smaller compartments,” Yvonne said. “A single leak in one of those compartments wouldn’t bring the airship down, certainly not very quickly. We would be able to take steps to reduce height gradually or simply seal the puncture, if possible. Our crews are trained to climb up and onto the bag to carry out repairs ... in theory. We’ve never done it during flight.”
“We haven’t really flown at all,” Taffy put in.
“But she’s as safe as possible,” Valerie said. “Right?”
“She’s as safe as we can make her,” Yvonne said. “But there are always risks.”
“There are risks in sailing, too,” Adam said. “And portals and teleporting and even walking.”
“Risk is unavoidable,” a new voice said. Adam looked back to see Master Caleb clambering into the engine room. “It is impossible to make any advances without risk, no matter how hard we try to minimise it.”
“And everyone involved in this project understands the risks,” Yvonne added, stiffly. “We made it clear to the craftsmen, particularly the ones who’d join the flight crew, that there would be risks, that there was a very real prospect of a fiery death. They chose to stay with the project and remain part of the crew.”
Adam nodded. It was hard not to admire the flight crew. The risks of sailing, or experimenting with newer forms of magic, were well-understood, but no one knew what would really happen when the airship clawed her way into the sky. The wind might blow her across the desert and into the mountains, or she might be struck by lightning, or ... who knew? The air might get too thin, if they flew too high, or ... he shuddered. If something went wrong, there might be no time to recover and repair the damage before the airship hit the ground. The university might never know what had happened to bring the airship down ...
Valerie smiled. “Does she have a name?”
“Not yet,” Yvonne said. “We’re still taking suggestions.”
“And the staff have veto power,” Caleb added, quickly. “Airship McAirshipFace is not an acceptable name.”
Jasper snickered. “How about Big Richard?”
“Perhaps not,” Yvonne said, not bothering to hide her irritation. “She needs a dignified name.”
“Lady Emily,” Adam suggested. “The airship was her idea, wasn’t it?”
“Emily would not approve,” Caleb said, bluntly. “She flatly refused to allow her officers at Cockatrice to erect a solid gold statue in her honour, as well as other monuments to her grandeur. She wouldn’t let us name the airship after her either.”
Adam blinked in surprise, then remembered Caleb and Lady Emily had been close. Very close. “She turned it down?”
“She felt the money would be better spent elsewhere,” Caleb said. “She is a very modest person, and I doubt she would appreciate having the airship named after her.”
“The airship does deserve a name that’ll make children smile, when they read about her maiden flight,” Jasper said. “What about Overcompensator?”
“Professor Thande would not approve,” Caleb said. “And there’s no need to steal the name from his textbooks.”
Adam frowned, sure he was missing something. “What ...?”
“I’ll explain later,” Lilith muttered back. “But Master Caleb has a point.”
Taffy cleared her throat. “What about Voidsdaughter?”
“That would not go down well with anyone, not now,” Caleb said. “What are you thinking?”
“I think it would be a good reminder that not everything Void has been doing over the years was wrong,” Valerie said. “Void is the enemy of everyone, right now, and Lady Emily is his daughter. She might be opposing him, but far too many people will hold her birth against her no matter the outcome. Naming the airship after her, even indirectly, will be a reminder that he did good as well as ill. That’s how I’d spin it, anyway. Or we could say she travels in the void and that’s where we got the name ...”
“It will do,” Yvonne said. “Caleb?”
“I’ll run it past the rest of the staff, but it might work,” Caleb said. “However, if she objects, the airship will be renamed. Are we clear on this point?”
“Of course,” Yvonne said. “Now, can we put the rest of the tiles into place before the first flight?”
“Of course,” Caleb echoed. “Let me know when you’re ready to make the first flight.”
He turned and headed for the hatch, then stopped and turned back. “And make sure the first flight has no extra crew,” he cautioned. “The experienced craftsmen are not to be involved until we are sure the airship is relatively safe.”
“People will grumble, sir,” Praxis said.
“Let them.” Caleb met his eyes. “We need those experienced men, at least until we have enough of them. They can fly later, once we know the airship isn’t going to fall out of the sky the moment we cut her loose.”
He looked at Adam. “And that includes you too,” he said. “You’ll have to wait for the second flight.”
Adam scowled as Caleb turned away and left the compartment. He had hoped to be on the first flight, even though he’d known it was unlikely. There was no real point to him being there – the runes had already been carved and tested and were unlikely to break under the stresses of flight – and yet, he had been on the hot air balloon. He was the only person who’d flown on the untethered balloon and landed behind enemy lines ...
“He’s right,” Yvonne said. The pity in her eyes gnawed at him, even though he knew she meant well. “You should be careful with yourself.”
“I’ll try,” Adam said, stiffly. “The tiles are ready and raring to go.”
He kept his thoughts to himself as they crawled over the airship, placing the tiles in position and testing the effects, one by one. It was a relief to discover his calculations had been accurate – the magic-dispelling field expanded further with each and every tile added to the network – but he still felt as if he were being pushed aside, denied the right to sail on the airship during her first voyage. It reminded him of how young sailors were taunted if they weren’t selected for a voyage, even when it wasn’t their fault. And yet ... he shook his head, telling himself Master Caleb had a point. He could do nothing on the airship. He wasn’t even sure there was room for spectators. The crew would need to move around without impediment.
Lilith joined him and Taffy as they disembarked and made their way to a safe distance, her face grim. She’d been talking to Yvonne and Praxis ... Adam wondered what they’d been talking about, but he knew better than to ask. She’d tell him soon enough ... he caught sight of Jasper and a handful of other crewmen leaving the airship as sullenly as the rest of the unnecessary crew and craftsmen. Jasper scowled at him, then headed straight into the university. Adam reminded himself Lilith was right. Jasper had had plenty of opportunities to make something of himself and he’d let them all pass him by.
A dull roar split the air as the airship was disconnected from the mooring tower. Adam felt waves of warm air brush against him as the engines came to life, the airship shifting back and forth as it rose into the air. The gas bag quivered – for a horrible moment, he thought it was on the verge of popping like a soap bubble – before settling down. The gondola shuddered noticeably as the airship climbed higher, the tip of the gas bag shifting oddly as a gust of wind brushed against the frame. It looked weirdly fragile and yet ...
“No magic,” Lilith said. “And yet, it flies.”
“Yeah,” Taffy agreed. “It flies.”
Chapter Four
“Tell me something,” Lilith said, after an hour had passed with agonising slowness. “Can they actually land the airship safely?”
“Yes,” Taffy said. “They can steer, to some extent, and they’re learning more with every passing moment. They shouldn’t have any trouble docking once again, before lowering the gondola to the ground.”
Adam nodded. The airship trials had been both exciting and tedious. The airship had flown around the university and then out into the desert, moving up and down in a jerky fashion that suggested the crew weren’t fully in control as the winds grew stronger. He’d watched carefully at first, making mental notes for later research, then allowed himself to get distracted after the magic tests were completed. The sorcerers had done their best – he hoped – but the spells hadn’t touched the gas bags. The airship was seemingly immune to direct magical attack.
Seemingly, he told himself, as the airship lumbered back towards the playing fields. Arnold might come up with something new when he sees the airship heading towards him.
He scowled. Heart’s Eye had never been very secure, even when the enemy army had been pressing against the wards. There were so many people within the university that it was quite likely one or more of them were spies, reporting to Arnold or King Ephialtes or one of the university’s other enemies. Not, he supposed, that they’d have to work too hard. The airship was hard to spot – it was too large for anyone to wrap their head around its existence easily – but once it was noticed, it was impossible to miss. A lone spy out in the desert, watching through a telescope, would have no trouble reporting his sighting to his masters. Adam tried to tell himself the masters wouldn’t believe a word of it, when they got the message, but he doubted it. Arnold had seen the hot air balloon, after all, and the airship was just an improvement on the original concept.
Taffy cleared her throat. “Do you want to go down to Heart’s Ease?”
Adam blinked. It had been two weeks since the siege had been broken and he doubted the town was in any state for visitors. Their favourite restaurants had been destroyed as easily as the rest of the town, along with what food stocks the defenders hadn’t managed to get to the university before it was too late. It was hard to get any food right now, even from the nearest cities and farms. It was unlikely there was any point in going, unless they wanted to help with the repair and recovery work. And right now they’d only get in the way.
Lilith’s mind was clearly running along the same lines. “Why? I mean, what’s there?”
Taffy flushed. “There’s a Leveller meeting taking place tonight,” she said, glancing at the sun. “And I was asked to invite you.”
“Me?” Adam frowned. “I thought ...”
“Arnold did a lot of damage,” Taffy said. “And the invaders did a lot more. But they’re rebuilding and they’re asking for you.”
“Be careful,” Lilith said. “There’s no telling what ties Arnold still has to them.”
“No,” Taffy agreed. “But the new leadership wasn’t in town when he was posing as one of us.”
Adam winced at the anger in her voice. Arnold had screwed Taffy, in all senses of the word. She wasn’t the only one who’d been tricked and manipulated into doing things that had nearly triggered a civil war, but she seemed to be the only one getting most of the blame. Perhaps they thought she should have known better or perhaps ... he put the thought aside and forced himself to think. The meeting could be a trap – Arnold could easily have other ties to the Levellers – but he was still drawn to the movement. The Levellers believed everyone – male and female, magical and mundane – were born equal. Adam agreed. He was, at least in his heart, a Leveller. And he was damned if he was letting Arnold ruin it for him.
“We’ll be fine,” he said, finally. “Are you coming?”
“They’d be happy to see you too,” Taffy added. “Really.”
Lilith shrugged. “We do need a break,” she said. “I was on the verge of dragging Adam out of the workroom and insisting he take it easy for a day or two.”
Adam flushed. Lady Emily’s notes had been fascinating. He wished he’d had more time to go through them, to evaluate what he could adapt into spell circuitry and what would have to be put aside until he got permission to draw on the nexus point. If he hadn’t been so pressed to also design and produce more runic tiles ... he put the thought aside as a shadow loomed over the playing fields, the airship slowly returning to the mooring tower. Voidsdaughter looked rough and crude, as if she’d been thrown together from a multitude of cannibalised devices, yet she was still stunning. And she’d already taught the craftsmen enough to make sure the next airship was much – much – more capable.
“Let’s go, then,” he said. There was nothing for them to do now the trials were more or less over. Yvonne and Praxis would go over the flight with the rest of the crew, then decide how to proceed from there. There’d be another flight soon enough, he hoped, and if he was lucky he’d be allowed to join the crew. “It won’t be long before the sun starts going down.”
Lilith nodded. “I’ll just grab my cloak,” she said. “See you in the Great Hall.”
Adam nodded back, then made his way around the university to the main doors. The air was noticeably less pleasant, filled with the stench of tainted magic that pervaded the desert joined by the aroma of burnt flesh and sand from the firestorm that had destroyed the enemy camp and burnt most of the enemy army. Adam tried not to think too much about the hell he’d unleashed, about the men who’d been incinerated before they had a chance to run. They’d been soldiers and yet ... he tried to tell himself that being soldiers meant they were looters, rapists, murderers and parasites and yet he knew, now, that wasn’t always true. The soldiers who’d fought to defend the university were good guys, as were the militiamen ...
Like you, his thoughts pointed out. You fought in the university’s defence too.
Taffy grinned at him. “We’ll be flying soon, I hope.”
“Me too,” Adam agreed. “What do they intend to do with it?”
“They have grand plans, if they can get the design to work properly,” Taffy said. “Flights to the capital, flights further afield ... sure, the airship is slow, but she’ll keep going when a horse would need to stop, nor does she need rails like a locomotive. Just think about what we can do with her.”
Lilith joined them, her cloak wrapped around her dress. “Shall we go?”
