The Children of the Sky

“I’ll figure something out. We’ve talked too long this time. One last thing. Vendacious and Tycoon are both scary, but they’re very different, and Vendacious is lying to Tycoon about lots of things. Vendacious doesn’t want you talking to Tycoon. Your greatest near-term danger is that Vendacious will assassinate you. He would have killed you back at Prince Puce’s, except it would have been too hard to disguise from Tycoon. He was very angry that you got put on Tycoon’s airship.”

There must be a bright side to this. “Could Tycoon be turned into an ally?” said Ravna.

There was a moment of silence. Then: “Maybe. But see, Tycoon really, really hates humans. And one in particular.”

Ravna thought of what Tycoon must have done to little Geri. If this was what the creature did to lesser enemies—

“So who is his number-one enemy?” asked Jefri.

“Johanna.”

“What!”

“Why?”

“I don’t know!” Amdi’s voice was plaintive. “Johanna has always been the most beloved human in the Domain—sorry, Ravna, but you know what Jo did for the veterans. You’d be second, though!”

“Ah, thank you.” She glanced at Jefri. “We’ve got to figure this out.”

“And not get killed.” That was probably Mr. Radio, but the point was valid, whoever made it.

“Yes,” said Amdi. “Now we gotta go. I…”

Amdi seemed to hesitate, then Zek gave a squeak and collapsed across Ravna’s middle. He remained silent as Ritl gobbled softly at him.

Jefri bent to stroke Zek with his own forehead, much the way a pack will try to rouse an injured member. Ravna was surprised that any good could come from a human making the gesture, but after a moment, Zek struggled back against the wall. He swayed, still disoriented.

“He must have lost comm very abruptly,” said Jefri.

Ravna heard no alarms from the hallway. Without Radio, their activity here might remain unnoticed for some time. “Amdi’s side could be fine,” she said.

Jefri nodded. “But we have to get these two back to wherever they’re supposed to be.” He said something to Zek. It sounded like he was humming and whistling at the same time, but different tunes. Ravna had never figured out how some of the Children could manage such coordination. But Zek waved his head uncomprehendingly. Next to Johanna, Jefri Olsndot might be the most Tinishly-fluent human, but it still took practice for a pack to make sense of humans attempting Tinish. “Okay,” said Jefri, speaking Samnorsk now, “can you understand me?”

“I hear,” Zek said.

“Amdi?”

“No.”

“He’s making sense,” said Ravna. “He may still have a link to some other members.”

Jefri nodded. “You alone now?”

Zek gave another uncomprehending shake of the head.

Jefri glanced at Ritl. “Together, these two could probably get back where they came from … at least if they don’t run into somebody who wants explanations.”

“They got here okay,” said Ravna.

“Yeah, but that was when Radio had most of his mind and Amdi was along for the ride.” He paused. “Well, if Zek is nearly single now, there is something that might work. After all, Ritl is already a desperate singleton and Mr. Radio Cloaks must be a loosely-held soul.” Jef reached out and softly patted Zek’s shoulder. Then he slipped his hand under the creature’s cloak, pushing it away from where it covered Zek’s shoulder tympana.

Zek flinched back with a whistling sound. Lots of needle-sharp teeth were just centimeters from Jef’s face.

“Not to worry,” Jefri spoke the words gently, calmingly … to whom? “If this is like Flenser and his cloaks, Zek has sores all around his tympana. I just have to be very gentle. And Zek has to trust me.” He lifted the cloak free of Zek’s left side. The creature was trembling, but it didn’t bite.

Jef folded the left side of the cloak over Zek’s back. “You’re really out of contact, aren’t you, kiddo?” He looked at Ravna. “This is a long shot, but I can’t think of anything else.” He waved for Ritl to come close. The singleton hesitated, maybe taking one more close listen on the hallway, then it crawled close to Jefri. Ritl’s eyes were on Zek, her head shifting uneasily back and forth. Jefri scooched himself out of the way, then tugged at both creatures, urging them close together. Now they were both sitting mostly on Ravna.

Ritl made a Tinish “yech” sound, then gobbled on, softly complaining. Now that Zek was out from under his cloak, his mindsounds would be loud to any nearby member. This close to each other, the two creatures were in a fight, flight, or merge situation. For normal pack members, “merge” would have been by far the least likely outcome. Even in this desperate situation, the two acted like debutantes confronting sexual perversion.

“Well, crap.” The human words seem to come from the space between the Tines.

“They synched up!” Jefri’s voice was full of wonder. “Can you understand me?”

“Yesss.” The voice sounded more annoyed than frightened. Ritl plus Zek might be smarter than either was separately, but it wasn’t a happy camper.

Jef said, “You lost contact with the rest of yourself, right?”

“Hurt noise, lost all radio.”