A Fortress of Stone and Storms (Tales of Gultima #1)

Chapter One

Grey.

Everywhere.

Landing in Unkea wasn’t as easy as it should have been.

The landing platform was big enough, but the fortress was built of grey stone, possibly granite, it was hard to tell, given that the air was full of smoky mist. The sky was opaque with clouds showing that their silver lining was in fact a threat. Even the diffused light felt ashen.

All that tonal similarity made the altitude change for the landing difficult to judge.

The platform seemed at one time both far too close and far too far away.

The surface itself was wet and slick. I felt Salvadora’s back paws slide as we landed.

But she stopped safely and tucked her wings carefully behind her.

We had told the truth, and this was our punishment.

“We’re here,” I said, as cheerfully as I could manage to the bundle shivering inside the far too big fur-lined leather riding coat.

I looked down at my son as he pulled off his flying goggles and cap.

Both were my spares and also much too big for him, but they’d done the job of protecting him during the flight.

“Flying is c-c-cool,” Fin said. He didn’t have a stutter, the outfit had stopped him freezing in flight, but because it was too big, the wind had crept in and he’d grown cold.

“Yeah,” I said. “It absolutely is. Throw your leg over the side, son, and I’ll slide us down.”

He did as he was told, and I shifted awkwardly with the bulk of our combined pack on my back.

Holding my son tight against my chest, I told him to pull his legs up, then I slid down the length of Salvadora’s front leg.

Landing, bending my knees to take the sting out of the impact, I put Fin down and ruffled his hair.

He was standing oddly, like his legs wouldn’t go together.

No great surprise there. Sitting astride a dragon’s neck required a wide-legged stance that he simply wasn’t used to, and we’d been travelling for a week to get here from the other side of the continent. Not an easy journey even for me, and I was used to riding a dragon every day.

Now that we were down, I could see that the landing platform was slightly less skiddy than it looked. The stones were laid with alternates raised less than a fingers’ depth, like a checkerboard. That explained why Salvadora had only slipped a little.

Or you could accept that I know how to land safely, her voice grumbled in my head.

“Yes, I could accept that,” I said silently back at her. “And if I didn’t, I wouldn’t have risked mine or my son’s life with you, sweetheart.”

This place is not pleasant, she told me. There is no colour. No warmth.

“You’re a blue,” I pointed out. “You hatched in the Ice Barrens, so don’t tell me you can’t handle the weather here.”

Can and want to are not the same.

“This is where we’ve been posted, Salvadora,” I mind-spoke to her. “We’re staying.” We had no choice.

The expulsion of air from her rear end was a clear indication of her opinion on the subject.

I adjusted the pack on my back and looked around. So this was the payment for telling the truth. Posted to the far edge of the continent in the most miserable weather conditions imaginable. Still, we were here. We had to get on.

It wasn’t clear what direction I should go, but then a dark shadow started to form in the grey mists.

The shadow quickly resolved into a human shape and at last, within about six paces, into an actual human.

His black hair was long, the sides were pulled back, keeping it out of his face, the rest hung behind his shoulders.

The mist had deposited droplets that sparkled like unlikely diamonds on jet.

His eyes were too dark to reveal a colour in that muted light.

He was an incredibly handsome man in blue rider’s leathers, the insignia on his arm telling me he was a Flight Captain, my superior officer.

Adjusting to stand at attention, I saluted as he stopped before us. At my side, Fin also performed a rather good salute for a five-year-old.

The flight captain kept his gaze on mine as his arm returned to his side.

“Flight Sergeant Sullivan Segast,” he said.

His voice carried a slight Southern hemisphere accent but also showed heavy influence from the accents here on the east coast. “I am Flight Captain Ang Shi. Stable Master Eustace will take care of your dragon.” He glanced across at the man approaching from my left.

That man was shorter, stocky, with hands like meat cleavers and eyes like frost pools.

I don’t like him.

“Salvadora, be nice. You haven’t even met him yet,” I sent the message back.

He has perma-sneer. I do not feel safe with him.

“Your accommodation has been prepared. You’ll need to speak to the Quartermaster if you or son have any major dietary issues which require special food supplies, but you are welcome to cater individually if you need to.

Still, you will take your turn with kitchen duty like the rest of us.

If you’ll follow me, I’ll show you the fortress facilities. ”

There wasn’t another option, the risk of losing sight of him in the mist was too great.

Dora was lumbering — I do not lumber — towards the nests with Stable Master Eustace.

I took Fin’s hand, and we headed after the flight captain.

The wall of the fortress came into view, or at least the bit right in front of us did.

I looked up and there was no telling how high that wall went, but I got the impression that it ‘loomed’.

We stepped in through a wooden door bound with thick black iron.

Flight Captain Shi closed the door behind us. The rattle wasn’t one of locking, but of a clasp that had grown difficult. Probably a rust issue in this environment. It was instantly warmer, by maybe as much as ten degrees in here. Not hot or even balmy, but warm enough for human habitation.

As he stepped past us to lead the way again, I noticed a stiffness about Shi.

Not like a man gets stiff with aching joints, but just a level of tension throughout his body that suggested he was in control of himself and his environment.

The impression was that he expected as much control from those around him.

I glanced at Fin. Control and five-year-olds didn’t always mix that well.

We turned a corner. I was a little too aware of how sharp the granite was at that point. Another thing to watch out for with a five-year-old who loved to run amok.

“Rider Jimny!” Flight Captain Shi called out, and a shorter man in blue flinched, then turned to his captain and saluted.

“Flight Captain, sir.”

“Rider Jimny, this is Flight Sergeant Segast and his son, Fin.”

“Hi, Short Round.” Jimny waved at Fin and offered a wide smile. Then he looked at me and gave a salute that barely earned the name. “Sir.”

“Please take the Sergeant’s pack to his room while I acquaint him with the fortress,” Flight Captain Shi said. “Also take the boy’s coat before he trips over it.”

I knelt to help Fin. It was, after all, my coat, and his little arms struggled to get to the end of the sleeves. I passed the coat to Jimny as I stood and thanked him.

Shi was watching Fin. “Are you warm enough, boy?” Shi asked. “Or will you need another layer before we move on?”

“I’m good, sir,” Fin said. “It’s much warmer in here. Thank you, sir.”

Shi nodded and looked at Jimny. “They’re in four-twelve.”

Jimny saluted, waved again at Fin, and moved away.

“He doesn’t look old enough,” I mused.

“They often don’t,” Shi said. “Jimny is straight out of the College of Riders in Murmaberg. He has much to learn, but he’s keen.”

I wondered who he’d irritated enough to get rejected to this hole.

Shi led the way, long strides which he soon moderated. I guessed he heard the rapidity of Fin’s much shorter steps. Perhaps I should have picked Fin up, but I didn’t want it to look like I coddled my son. Even though, if given the chance, I probably would.

We saw the dining hall and kitchen, which were basically the same room. Storage and equipment rooms. The laundry. Shi introduced us to the Quartermaster, who took one look at Fin and tutted.

“You’re going to need a decent coat, boy, or you’ll get soaked out here. Not sure I have anything small enough.”

“Are there no other children here?” I asked.

“Three,” Quartermaster Ibrahim said. “They are eleven, twelve and fifteen.”

“Young Mister Segast will meet them tomorrow when he attends the schoolroom sharp at seven in the morning,” Flight Captain Shi said. “I will show you the schoolroom next.”

Which he did, plus many other rooms. I felt entirely lost after half an hour. This was so unlike Pasaocea where I had grown up and been posted into the Riders service. Thankfully, it was also much smaller, so there was less to remember.

“All the levels of the Fortress are interconnected,” Shi stated as he slowed by one particular door on the fourth level. “You’ll soon learn your way around.”

“Dragons!” Fin said as he suddenly ran to and leaned into an open passageway we had not passed.

“Yes,” Flight Captain Shi confirmed. “That is the route down to the dragon nests.” He looked from my son to me. “He can sense the dragons already?”

I nodded. “Yes, sir. Fin, come back please.”

Fin laughed. “Aurex is awfully pompous,” he said as he returned to my side.

I looked down at my son. “Who is Aurex?”

“Lord Aurexian Valemont the Third,” Flight Captain Shi intoned. “My white.”

He had a white dragon. The formality of the man and the dragon type matched well. I was glad there was another ice-breather here with Salvadora. She had grown weary of the fire breathers in Pasaocea thinking they were so above everyone and everything.

“He does not like to be known as Aurex,” Shi went on, looking down at my son. “Even by me. Where did you hear that name?”