“The warriors are ready,” Maro said. “Gear is triple-checked.”
When Maro spoke, Kaori could hear rage underscoring every word. A fresh grief, born after his brother had perished bringing word of the Earthcrusher’s construction in autumn. Maro and Ryusaki had been inseparable—both Iron Samurai serving under her father, joining him in protest, leaving Yoritomo’s service and seeking the Kagé after …
After.
But rage was good. From rage came strength beyond strength. And they’d need every drop of it if they were to step knowingly into the serpent’s maw.
“Take us down.”
The bass-thick hiss of compressors kicked along the inflatable, the command to descend rolling over the crew. The ship was a fast-running merchantman called Firestorm, owned by a captain named Nori. The man had become a Kagé ally when his son was jailed by a corrupt magistrate who’d taken a shine to the boy’s new bride. He stood on the pilot’s bridge, both hands on the wheel as Firestorm slipped through the clouds.
“Brace yourselves, friends!” he cried. “High winds below!”
The merchantman pushed out into black skies, lightning shattering the dark off their starboard side. Cloudwalkers cursed in the rigging, several shouting prayers to Susano-ō and his vengeful son Raijin. The thought of the Thunder God brought unwelcome images of Yukiko and Buruu, and like a shadow after their passing, the ghost-pale form of Kin with his knife-bright eyes and plans within plans.
Anger seethed, bright and hot, fingers crushed into fists. She stalked across the deck, taking stairs two at a time up to the pilot’s landing.
Nori was squinting into the black with a telescoping spyglass.
“A multitude of lights northeast,” he nodded, handing over the device. “I fear, fair Lady, there lies your Earthcrusher and its army.”
Kaori ignored the affectations in Nori’s speech, the highborn accent. Even here, on the wrong side of the Tiger Daimyo and the Guild’s law, the Phoenix captain couldn’t help playing the artiste. Despite the hurricane winds, he’d even managed to strap his hat on at a rakish angle.
She peered through the spyglass, spotting a cluster of lights through the pummeling rain. She could make out a behemoth’s silhouette, towering above the broken earth.
“Take us as close to First House as you’re able and drop us near the chi pipeline.”
“Lady, you do realize First House is a mountain bastion? Do you plan to sprout wings when you reach it?”
“We don’t need wings, Captain, we have hands. Hands and the will to use them.”
“And what of the Stain? Fissures in the earth running for miles, fumes stirring not a foot in the strongest wind. The oldest stretch of deadlands in the Imperium. Any who go there die, Lady. How in the name of the Gods will you walk it unscathed?”
Hers was a smile of midnight and ice.
“On the road the Guild built for us.”
*
The bridge staff were assembled, atmos-suits freshly polished, Kin standing at the end of the line beside Commander Rei. The group stood on the Earthcrusher’s spaulder amidst howling wind. An ironclad loomed overhead, propellers blasting at the black rain, lightning crackling across the clouds above.
The ironclad’s engines roared over the storm as it moored itself. Kin fancied he could hear rain spitting and popping on the red-hot engine housings. The captain must have thrashed the ironclad for most of the journey, driving the engines as hard as he dared. Kin could imagine a shadow looming over the captain’s shoulder, eyes burning with the heat of the hidden sun, fixed on the horizon as they drew ever closer.
And here came the shadow now, stepping out over the ironclad’s railing, winched down onto the Earthcrusher’s spaulder. Come to pilot his creation to final victory.
Shateigashira Kensai. Second Bloom of Chapterhouse Kigen.
Kin wondered why the Second Bloom hadn’t simply flown down to the gantry, but as he landed, Kensai sagged, steadying himself on an Artificer who’d come to his assistance. Kin realized the explosion must have done more damage than anyone had been led to believe.
“Shateigashira Kensai, we are honored to welcome you aboard Earthcrusher!”
Kin slapped hand over fist in unison with the other Guildsman, the multitude bowing in one fluid motion. Commander Rei was obviously overjoyed at the presence of his sensei, but a faint concern edged his voice as he spoke over the storm.
“Are you well, Second Bloom? Your injuries . .?”
Kensai straightened slowly. Several other Lotusmen dropped down from the ironclad, landing on the gantry in a blaze of blue-white light. They hovered near the Second Bloom, intent on assisting him if needed, but careful not to actually touch him.
Kensai spoke, voice taut with pain.
“A simple scratch is not enough to keep me from this triumph, Rei-san.”