The Mountains of Athe, or ‘Ikun Klirtaān Atherkl’ in Tinarian, were an impressive sight. They made all the mountains the small fleet of airships had passed before into no more than hills by comparison. The peculiar blacker-than-black rocks burst from the surrounding forested hillsides at uncanny angles and reached into the sky until the snowy tops split the clouds. Rivulets, some small and some large, flowed down in cascades from various points among the peaks, and if Jack didn’t know any better he would have thought there was no way through them, even while flying.
But apparently, there was a pass, and it was best traversed during the daylight. They had reached the mountains just a few hours before the nightfall and Genys announced they wouldn’t try until morning.
Instead, they had landed the airships and had made camp for the night. Genys had picked a large meadow in the foothills surrounded by forest, and once the airships were down and secured, she had instructed the recruits to run through a low-intensity afternoon training.
“Not good to be cooped up all day,” she had said. “Tinarian soldiers need to be ready for anything.”
And though the soldiers went about their exercises, it was obvious many of them were excited to see home again. The Athe Mountains used to be the main border between Tinaria and Yarva, a soldier had told Jack as much when they first came into view. It was one of the reasons why Yarvans had held onto their autonomy for so long. For generations, the main pass in the mountains had been too perilous to cross, or at least it was for the Tinarians trying to cross it. It was much too high for an expedition on foot.
The Yarvans had used a separate narrow canyon to the west as their only traversable path through the peaks, and ancestrally it was the only access to their lands from the south. There was a small fortified village that had doubled as a religious outpost called Livrik on the southern side of the mountains, and it was often menaced by Tinarian forces for as long as anyone could remember.
It wasn’t until The Republic had invented the flyers that they were able to force their way through. Combined with the glitz they were able to take Yarva and establish a much higher, wider passage in this more central location. That was the accepted thoroughfare, but even cargo ships wouldn’t risk it at night. The Athes might not be the old gods that Yarvan tradition claimed them to be, but they were plenty perilous.
When it came to the Crusades, not a lot of Yarvans liked to talk in depth. It always felt like they were admitting something dirty when they did—only whispers and half-mentioned references. Apparently, even according to Tinaria’s semi-sanitized accounts, it was an absolute bloodbath. They had taken place under the command of General Hyriz Tivor, who was High General when Pyrn himself was only a recruit. No one said it all out loud, but Jack had put the pieces together. Tivor had been responsible for an obscene amount of Yarvan deaths, which is why he was known by a different name—Hyriz the Butcher.
All that Jack had learned in the last few days. Now that he had a pretty decent command of Yarvan, he could converse with the other soldiers semi-fluently. The one who told some of it to him was named Jik, who always put a positive spin on the actions of the Republic. That was strange because his grandfather had personally fought against the Tinarian invaders.
“That’s what he called them, anyway,” Jik said. “Invaders. My grandad was always old-fashioned that way. We, of course, know the Tinarian army as our greatest protector. It’s harder for the older generations to see progress as progress. Us younger ones know better.” He said it so genuinely that Jack could immediately tell he believed what he was saying. Jik had either bought into the Republic one hundred percent or he was the best actor Jack had ever met.
I wonder how many there are like Ki, he thought.
“Anyway, like I said, the pass is dangerous in the dark,” Jik continued. “Transportation passes through there often enough. But every once in a while something goes bad with the glitz-powered navigation devices. Without being able to see that’ll cause trouble. You can find yourself heading straight into one of the spires and then you’re covered in snow and never seen again. Genys is smart to have us stay the night below.”
Both he and Jack were prepping one of the flyers to do a little bit of training. It was a two-person job, and Jack was usually paired with either Ki or Orvalys. Since Ki seemed to be keeping her distance from him, and since he was keeping his distance from Orv until he figured out what he was going to say about Ki, it was a good opportunity to make another friend.
“Your grandfather talked about the war?” Jack asked. “And he said negative things about Tinaria? I thought that wasn’t allowed.”
Why did I ask that?
“It’s not,” Jik said, turning the dials and pulling a few levers to prep the flyer. “I guess he thought he could get away with it.”
“I’m assuming he didn’t?” Jack knew he shouldn’t be asking questions. After the conversation with Ki, the logical thing was to distance himself from anything that looked even close to Yarvan-Tinarian politics. It wouldn’t get him anywhere. It was risky, and Orv probably wouldn’t like it.
Jik looked at him sideways for a moment before putting on his smile again. “Of course not,” he said, forcing out a laugh. “The Republic always finds out.”
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The flyer suddenly came to life and hummed with the vibrating power of glitz. It lifted a foot or so off the ground and the air around it slightly distorted almost like waves of cool heat. A purple glow filled what Jack had decided was the engine compartment, though nothing even sort of like a combustion engine was inside the flyer—that he was sure of.
“You ready?” Jik asked.
Jack nodded. “flyer or glitzer?”
“Glitzer,” Jik said. “I need the practice.”
“I like flying anyway,” Jack said, and he clambered into the control seat. He felt suddenly grateful for the change in subject.
Also, it had only been a few times, but he had picked up flying quickly. There was something about the two levers, one for up and down and the other for side to side—it felt natural. He remembered the first time he sat in one of the illogical devices thinking it looked like a sort of steampunk helicopter. He had read somewhere that helicopters had two levers as well, and the whole ship was made of some sort of coppery metal, except it wasn’t copper, it couldn’t be. Orv had said most of Earth’s basic metallic elements didn’t exist here. However that was supposed to work was beyond Jack’s reasoning.
And how they flew was still a mystery. Whatever kind of reaction the glitz used to generate power had to be immensely strong—strong enough for a whole machine with two people inside to float idly a foot off the ground. That was impressive by itself, and when Jack pulled one of those levers, it only got more impressive.
“Ready?” Jack asked, gently pushing and pulling each lever. The flyer moved a few inches left and right, up and down.
“Ready,” Jik nodded. “Let’s take it easy yeah? Little circle around camp?”
“Little circle around camp,” Jack confirmed, and then pushed the levers hard. The craft jumped upwards and Jik made an involuntarily sound.
“I said take it easy!” he choked out as they began circling around the large airship in the center of the meadow. “Easy!”
“I am!” Jack said, laughing. “Easy doesn’t mean slow! You should have specified.”
“I forgot you fly like this,” Jik said between winces. “People have been talking about it.”
“Is that a bad thing?” Jack asked, pushing the flyer into an even tighter circle.
“Well, it is if you end up killing us!” Jik said. “Most recruits are hesitant to even get inside an airship. Here you are a few weeks in flying it like you’re insane.”
“I grew up flying these!” Jack said. It was a lie of course—one he told Ki originally to calm her down. He had never flown anything in his life until a couple of weeks ago, but after being told how the controls worked, some sort of instinct kicked in. His best guess was Nymian magic. Directing the small fighter ship had felt remarkably similar to channeling the elements through his veins, especially when it came to air. for whatever reason when he had flown for the first time, it felt like he was getting back a small part of something he lost a long time ago, something he was surprised he was still sort of good at.
And there was something else too. Every time he was up in the air, Jack had a strange sort of feeling come over him. It was almost as if, in his mind’s eye, he could see his actions just before they happened. Seeing wasn’t exactly the right word, but it was a sort of impression that manifested itself in feelings and half-images and intuition. It was like he always knew what to do because somehow he knew he already knew it.
Must be the adrenaline.
“You grew up in Tinaria?” Jik asked. “I thought you said you came from a small town far away.”
“Concentrate on your marks,” Jack said. “We’re coming around again.”
Genys had instructed the soldiers to arrange various targets on the far side of the field. She stressed the importance of the glitzers getting their practice in, both on the ground and in the air. Her insistence had only added to Jack’s suspicion that Genys sensed something was wrong. Never before had such new recruits been allowed to fly so quickly, not even with these small flyers. He had been told it was a minimum of six months before they were even allowed to touch one, and these only had about a twenty-foot height limit. The real flyers, the big ones that could go several thousand feet in the air were reserved for a section of the Militia exclusively devoted to aerial battle. Members of that section were apparently trained beginning in their teens.
“I got one!” Jik said from the back of the small ship. “Even though you’re flying crazy I got a target!”
“Hey! Good job!” Jack said.
“Alright, let’s land then,” Jik said. “Good work.”
“One second,” Jack said.
“What do you mean one—”
Jack punched the accelerator and the flyer shot upwards. He thought he heard Jik say something but the inertia must have ripped it from his mouth. The flyer continued to climb and climb and the thrill of it seemed to hit Jack’s spine and tingle down his body.
He really did love this.
At the mark—a couple hundred feet up— Jack felt it coming. He had that strange sort of feeling that it happened right before it happened, and then all at once the magnetic pull of a portal overcame him.
It was like with the others, but infinitely more strong. The pull that usually came from somewhere behind his eyes instead filled his entire body, and involuntarily his hands lurched forward, turning the flyer into an abrupt nosedive.
The wind caught one of the aerodynamic sides and sent them spinning. Jack struggled under the g-forces and tried not the black out. Luckily he grabbed the controls and was able to gently guide the flyer to stability. It eventually eased into a slow arc around the camp and he could hear Jik panting somewhere behind him.
“Jok.”
“Uh… yeah.” Jack’s voice was shaky in his throat.
“Can we land now?”
“Yeah. Sure thing.”
As soon as the flyer touched down Jik opened the hatch and sprung out. He nodded quickly but at Jack and took off toward the tents on shaking legs.
“I don’t think he’ll fly with me again,” Jack said quietly to himself.
“I thought I’m supposed to fly with you,” a small voice said from behind him. Jack turned to see Orvalys, and standing right next to him was Commander Genys.
“Jack, Orvalys tells me you have something to discuss with me,” the commander said.