The Wind Merchant Read online

  He rolled away from the window, safe.

  Ras watched Callie feign interest in something outside as he heard Mr. Tourbillon arrive downstairs. He panicked when he spotted the dirty, man-sized boot print on her otherwise spotless white sundress. He tried to motion to her stay where she was, pointing to his own thigh.

  “Callie, have you seen Erasmus?” Mr. Tourbillon asked. Callie turned to face him. “I was just over at Emma’s and she said—”

  Ras sat up and scurried back toward his house but ran straight into a man wearing a deputy’s uniform, who shoved him into the arms of another deputy with handcuffs at the ready.

  “Well, this doesn’t look good.” A middle-aged man with peppered temples and a square jaw sauntered up to Ras as one of the deputies worked the cuffs. Sheriff Pauling. He turned his head to see Mr. Tourbillon as he joined the crowd. “Good call. Poor boy was so surprised he didn’t even put up a fight.”

  “What’s this about?” Ras asked, doing his best to feign ignorance.

  Emma Veir stomped out of the house shouting at Sheriff Pauling, “Let him go! You know he wouldn’t do something like that!”

  “Something like what?” Ras asked.

  “Erasmus Veir, you are under arrest for the attempted murder of Harley Hollister.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  The Sentence

  Sheriff Pauling wasn’t a cruel man. Ras had fond memories of the Paulings being dinner guests in the Veir home occasionally, but looking at him through steel bars felt very different from sitting across a dinner table from him.

  The stale smell of regret and half-cleaned sick in the cell was difficult for Ras to ignore as he worked out a plan.

  Pauling looked over at Ras, reclining back in his chair across the small room. “You ready to talk or would you like to keep stewing?”

  “I wouldn’t hurt Old Harley,” Ras said.

  “Witnesses saw him climb aboard your ship last night. He was found there this morning after he didn’t show for his shift. Unconscious, burns and bruises all over his body. Your mother said you told her you got home around midnight.” The sheriff stood and began pacing in front of Ras’ cell. “What can you tell me?”

  “I asked him to watch the ship for me, I—”

  “Why’d you ask him to watch your ship?”

  “I didn’t want scavengers mistaking it for a junker after it was torn up.”

  “Ras,” Pauling said, “you dock in your family’s port. People here have too much respect for the Veir name to do something to your ship.”

  Ras slumped as Pauling pulled up a chair and sat. He remained silent until Ras met his eye. “You’re a good kid, Erasmus. Eli raised you right. Don’t prove me wrong.”

  “Is Old Harley going to be all right?” Ras asked weakly.

  “Was it self-defense?” he asked.

  Ras flinched at the thought of himself attacking the family friend. Then it dawned on him. “Old Harley’s a Knack, isn’t he?” Ras asked, immediately wishing he hadn’t voiced the question. He didn’t want anyone getting close enough to blow themselves and his ship to bits, and hadn’t considered Old Harley would snoop.

  “Did you not deposit your collection before docking?” The Sheriff sounded noticeably relieved.

  “No,” Ras said, burying his hope beneath his shameful expression. If all it took to get off the hook was taking his ship out of dock to head to the Collective’s drop-off station, he could make a run for it to find another Convergence. He could even feign engine problems and dump the collection once he made it close enough to the cloud level that it wouldn’t hurt Verdant.

  “It’s not that bad, Ras,” Pauling said. “It’s not a big fine and I’m sure Harley won’t press charges. Just be smart about it next time, all right?” He walked back to his desk to start filling out the paperwork.

  One of the two deputies Ras met earlier bolted into the room, caught sight of Ras, and stared daggers into the young man.

  “Sir?” The deputy waited for Pauling to look up. “We searched his ship, and the same thing happened to Robins. The kid brought enough Energy to light up Verdant.”

  The gavel slammed down to quiet the overcrowded courtroom as the Council of Verdant began their sentencing in the case of the “City of Verdant vs. Erasmus Veir." The general public had great interest in seeing the son of Elias Veir brought low as the destroyer of Verdant.

  Ras stood alongside his court-appointed lawyer as the Chief Justice read the counts. “On the charge of one count of first degree city sabotage, we find the defendant: not guilty.”

  Jeers and accusations shot forth from the crowd, requiring several more rounds of gavel pounding and threats of expulsion.

  “On the charge of one-hundred and sixty-thousand, nine-hundred and twelve counts of attempted murder by the releasing of Convergence-grade Energy within city limits, we find the defendant: not guilty.”

  For once, Ras’ reputation of incompetence worked in his favor. Throughout the proceedings, nobody seemed to honestly believe he held any ill-intention for the citizens of Verdant, but the prosecutor played up the need for repercussions for destroying the Convergence, even if accidentally. Ras sighed as the last of the charges that held hard time were behind him.

  “On the charge of third degree obstruction of Energy and fueling, we find the defendant: guilty.”

  The crowd murmured an approval. The defense lawyer leaned over and whispered, “That carries community service, you’ll be fine.” Being able to verifiably reproduce the conditions of the malfunctioning collection system saved him from a second-degree charge.

  “On the charge of bringing Level 9 Energy into city limits without declaring it, we find the defendant: guilty.”

  Ras felt the blood drain from his face.

  “I hereby declare that the sentence is three weeks of community service in Verdant’s engine per level of potency, resulting in no more than twenty-seven weeks,” the Chief Justice said. “The Energy in the hold is to be confiscated and fed to the engines of Verdant to prolong its life. In addition, a fine will be imposed equal to the scrap value of The Copper Fox, and the court permanently revokes your collection license with no opportunity for appeal as of today.”

  With the drop of the gavel, Ras flinched as his future disappeared. He fell to his chair, numb to the shouts of the men and women behind him, suggesting he be locked away forever or tossed over the side.

  Bailiffs roughly picked up Ras, escorting him past the throng that could no longer contain their vitriol toward him. He could see his mother in tears, and for a moment thought he caught a glimpse of Callie before he was shoved through the side door. It pained him to imagine the headache she must be suffering just to come out to watch the trial. He struggled not to pick out words like “useless,” “incompetent,” “idiot,” and worst of all, “Lack,” filtering into the hallway from the courtroom.

  How many cities have been destroyed by one mistake?

  Ushered in behind Ras, Emma strode next to her son as he walked down the long corridor. The shouts gave way to the clacks of boots on the hard floor as the entourage escorted Ras toward the side exit of the courthouse. Upon reaching the doors, Ras was met by a throng of reporters and some of the crowd from the courtroom that had already rushed outside to catch one more glimpse of him.

  Just before he reached the bottom step, he stopped and turned around to address the crowd. Cameras began snapping wildly and the crowd hushed to hear his statement.

  Ras took a breath to speak, held it for a moment, then simply said, “I’m so sorry.” He could already see his picture with those three words atop it on the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper.

  Emma stepped into Mr. Tourbillon’s borrowed skiff that awaited them. Ras followed, then shut the passenger door, drowning out the shutter clicks and accusations.

  “And with the press of a button, the world hates me,” Ras said.

  Emma looked over her son for a moment. “I’ve never told anyone this…but you’re not the onl
y Veir to destroy a Convergence.”

  Ras turned his attention from the window to his mother for a moment, waiting.

  She continued, “I don’t know how your father found it, but it got us through our early years together. He never told anyone he would dip below the clouds, but little by little, he’d collect enough to not make anyone suspicious. Paid off the ship and house before he killed it.”

  Ras didn’t know how he could have gotten so close, being part Knack. “Was it an accident?”

  “No. It was intentional. Your father got it in his head that Convergences were collections of poor Knack souls that were bound together, waiting to be freed to return to The Origin.”

  He had heard that theory from his father before. Since Elias wasn’t sure of it, Ras remained skeptical. “So Dad would have thought I did the right thing?”

  “Maybe,” Emma said, starting the skiff’s engine. “This was a few years before The Winnower was built, of course, so we weren’t expecting The Collective to take away our ability to stay in the air forever.” She pressed on the accelerator, leaving the courtroom behind them. “There’s someone I think you should talk to.”

  Old Harley struggled to sit up in his hospital bed. “Come in, sit, sit!” He coughed, gesturing for Ras and Emma to enter. “It’s good to see you!”

  Ras hadn’t believed that he could have felt any worse than he already did, but the sight of Harley’s ashen complexion somehow managed to sharpen his shame. “Harley, I’m so sorry—” he began.

  “Oh put a cork in it kid. All week long it’s been reporters, deputies, or doctors. It’s nice to see a familiar face. I kept telling them if I hadn’t have been such a busybody, I would be fine right now. Serves me right,” he said. “You know who should be sorry? The Collective.”

  “Why’s that?” Emma asked, taking a seat.

  “With Verdant sinking and no more Convergences in the area, they’re pulling out. Who are the wind merchants going to sell to now? The least they could do is install their Helios engines so we could buy fuel, but it’s like they’re punishing us for not buying from them in the first place. They hiked up their prices on their engines and fuel too! All on account of the skirmish they got going on with the sky pirates.” He scoffed. “Load of malarky, I tell you.”

  The beeps from the machinery were the only sound filling the room for the next few minutes.

  “How much do you think The Collective would charge to swap out Verdant’s engines?” Ras ventured at last.

  “Oh, I don’t know. More than anyone around here’s got, and probably all put together. Your father saw this coming. That’s why he split.”

  “Harley!” Emma said, angered. She softened her expression and shook her head when Ras looked at her for clarification. “He did not ‘split.’ He went to find a solution for Verdant that wasn’t going to stuff the pockets of The Collective,” she said in a phrase Ras heard many times growing up.

  “Emma, the man said he had a mission from Hal Napier himself.”

  “What?” Ras asked.

  Emma stood up. “That’s enough!”

  “The boy needs to know sometime.” Harley protested.

  “What exactly did Ras need to know? The rumors you hear third or fourth hand at the docks? If he wants to know more about his father he can ask me, not some deckhand,” she said, then stormed out.

  The two men sat silent for a moment. “Your father was a good man, Ras. I overstepped my bounds,” Harley said, not meeting Ras’ gaze.

  “Do you believe he met Hal?” Ras asked.

  “That’s a hard thing to say. I think it’s possible he met someone that flew The Kingfisher, but that ship would have to at least be one-hundred years old or more. That part’s plausible.”

  “I think I saw it. The Kingfisher.”

  Harley shifted in his bed, then peered out into the hallway before looking back to Ras. “Where?”

  Ras lowered his voice. “Way above the Convergence in Framer’s. I didn’t get a long look, but how many other ships can fly above the mountains there?”

  “Have you told anybody?”

  Ras shook his head. “People would just think I was crazy.”

  “You flew beneath the clouds and collected a Convergence. You have a little wiggle room for discussing the impossible,” Harley said. “I think I upset your mother a good bit. Would you pass along my apologies?”

  Ras nodded and stood. “If that was Hal, or even the same person that my dad met…do you think they could help Verdant?”

  “Couldn’t hurt to ask,” Harley said.

  Without a ship, Ras didn’t know how he’d be able to make it out to find The Kingfisher, let alone fly up to meet it, but opportunities to put things right for Verdant weren’t exactly jumping into his lap. He’d find a way. Bidding goodbye to Old Harley, Ras turned and left the room to find his mother.

  Emma had reached the main entrance of the hospital before Ras caught up with her. She wiped away smudged makeup while Ras kept pace with her short strides.

  “I’m not asking you to talk about it,” he said.

  “I’m fine talking about your father,” she said. “It’s just some people have very inaccurate information about why he left.”

  “If he knew Verdant was in trouble, why didn’t we just move to a city that ran on Helios engines?”

  Emma stopped. “Because he didn’t know how to quit when it came to helping others.”

  “Should he have?” Ras asked.

  She took a deep breath before shaking her head. “It was one of his better qualities. Verdant would have been overrun with sky pirates if he had quit. It’s just a shame—” she started, but restrained herself.

  “What’s a shame?”

  “We were going to raise you on The Silver Fox…not be tethered to any Helios-built system. It’s just a shame that’s not how it worked out.”

  “Why didn’t it?”

  Emma half-smiled. “There were just some things your father needed to do on his own.”

  “Like work for Halcyon Napier?” Ras asked.

  “I don’t know what Harley was talking about. There were a lot of rumors about why your father left, but it wasn’t for some long dead war hero.”

  “Mom?” Ras asked. “I’m sorry I lost the ship.”

  She embraced him tightly. “I still have you. Forget the ship.”

  The first day of community service in the guts of Verdant made it very difficult to simply “forget the ship.”

  Gone were the clouds, replaced by flickering lights and dank pipes that smelled of stagnation. Ras meandered down the long corridors lined with cables and wires, his boots clanking on the iron grated walkway.

  Three engineers passed Ras in a half-jog, ignoring the newcomer.

  Leaving the world plastered with newspapers showing his name and photo was a surprisingly welcome respite, even after enduring one morning of walking to his new job.

  Bronze signs pointed Ras in the direction of the dimly-lit main office. The eight-walled room consisted of twenty blueprint laden desks and one woman with a mop of curly hair poring over one of the sets. She looked to be in her mid-forties and filled out a jumpsuit that had once been a sky blue but now more resembled a patchwork of grays, greens, and browns with the occasional hint of its original color. The mostly white name patch read “Billie.”

  “You the new grunt?” Billie asked, not looking up.

  Ras mumbled something resembling an affirmation.

  “Good, glad they gave me someone with spunk,” she said. “C’mon, I’ll show you to your station.” She began to walk, and Ras followed.

  “How long have you worked down here?” Ras asked.

  “Well, I was born down here, so you do the math,” she said. Ras had heard of some communities that lived within Verdant, underneath the top layer. The rumor was they originated from groups that either hated heights or sought seclusion.

  “Do you go up top much?”

  “Occasionally. My father was a Knack so
he was forced to live below ground when Verdant launched.”

  “Forced? I didn’t know that.”

  “Yeah, most people chose to forget that tidbit or didn’t pass it on to their kiddos,” Billie said. “A few became wind merchants, but the rest wound up here.” They took a turn down a corridor that looked exactly the same as the one they left. Ras could already see himself getting hopelessly lost on a regular basis.

  “How do you know where you’re going?” Ras asked.

  “Most people who work down here are children or grandchildren of Knacks, so some of that gets passed down. We can sense where the engines are and how the Energy flows through the city,” she said, gesturing to the conduits and valves all around. “Foster Helios designed the cities to give Knacks a special purpose and to keep them safe.”

  “Because we didn’t know how much Energy was above the clouds?”

  “No, because everyone hated us for destroying the world. Well, not us…my grandfather’s generation. Not that they could help it,” she said.

  They stopped at a small supply closet. Billie opened it, extracted a mop, bucket, and gas mask, then handed Ras the lot. “Sub-level Four had an oil leak that needs cleaning up after.”

  “I’m sorry, I thought I was supposed to be working with the engine.”

  “You are,” she said. “Underneath we refer to everything and everyone as ‘the engine.’ We work together to keep the city flying, no matter what. You up for that?”

  Aside from making it onboard The Kingfisher, Ras couldn’t think of any other way to begin balancing the scale, but this was by far the more practical way to help Verdant.

  Sub-level Four greeted Ras with an acrid smell that prompted him to immediately slap on the gas mask, which did little to shut out the odor. He saw a dozen other masked workers already cleaning the corridor. “Lunch break is at noon on Sub-level Two,” Billie said, the gas mask muffling her voice and forcing Ras to strain in order to hear her. “Did you bring anything?”