Flight Testing

  The magic of Mani is a wild, untamable thing, and so the magi who attempt to tame it put themselves at risk in doing so. Any Coaction tires us out, of course—the greater the use, the more the fatigue—and attempting a feat of Coaction that one has not mastered yet, or is out of his or her branch of expertise, shocks the body, much like intense exposure to heat or cold will, often triggering severe fatigue, headaches, and vomiting.

  — From Secrets of Mani, by Sor the Lark

  (San’Hal 13, 997—Night Season)

  Two days later, we had a prototype ready to go. Oliver’s parents were set to return in one day’s time, or so the boy had said, but we would probably not even see them if things went well. Kaen volunteered to test the machine. Its design was relatively simple, close to the ones that Oliver had built.

  By now, it was full nighttime, but the auroras lit up the long yard behind Uncle Ben’s house just fine. Kaen went up onto the roof and took off, diving straight into the air in a show of defiance against gravity. The wings caught the wind and held him up, and he drifted to the ground in an awkward but somewhat controlled spiral before tumbling the last few feet to the ground. The glider did not get damaged, fortunately.

  Rhidea went next. She belted on the contraption over her utilitarian dress and tested her limited ground mobility while wearing it. Nodding to herself, she took a deep breath and then ran off the building as well. She wasn’t quite as graceful as Kaen, but I saw the look of concentration on her face as she adapted with difficulty to the odd, unintuitive controls of the flier. Then her descent stopped completely as, evidently, she began using her gravity manipulation abilities to test out her magical control of the ship. She flew parallel with the ground for nearly a hundred feet, faltering only briefly, before letting it go and alighting on the ground. Mydia and I ran to help her out of the gear.

  “Well?” asked Mydia. “How did it go?”

  “You saw yourself,” she said. “I was able to keep it aloft easily for a while, though it was mentally taxing due to the odd physics involved. Handling will take some getting used to for anyone, of course. . . . All in all, I’d say it’s a success.”

  Oliver grinned and gave her a thumbs-up.

  “But the real test has yet to come.” She gestured to the wide-open expanse of the Sea of Emptiness which spanned the dark horizon just a hundred yards away.

  “M’lady,” Oliver broke in now, distanced as he currently was from his uncle, “I should tell ya again, I've got . . . doubts about how well you’ll be able to use the flier over the open Sea without certain skills. Er, abilities.”

  She glanced over at his uncle, one hundred-odd feet away. “You never mentioned exactly what those were, boy. I assumed you were just trying to make yourself out to be as useful as possible, in hopes that we’d take you along with us when we left.”

  The boy reddened a bit. “Well . . . that may be, ma’am. A bit. But you see, I’m . . . I’m a wind mage. There’re lots of us here on the island.”

  The Wandering Mage’s eyes narrowed. “So, it’s true.”

  “Yeah . . . we try to keep it secret as possible. That’s the key to making a lot of the sky ships work. And that’s how I can use my gliders so well over the open air. The updrafts aren’t a magical boost that just anyone can make use of. You have to harness ’em.”

  Ah . . . I thought. So that’s the key.

  Rhidea nodded once more. “I see. I am no wind mage, but I can manipulate gravity, and I think that ability will allow me to circumvent most of those problems.”

  “Right . . . but I’m not so sure, my lady. Y’see, the farther you get from any big landmass, I think your Authority is going to grow weaker and weaker. Because it’s earth-based, right?”

  She hesitated. “Sort of. I have never had the opportunity to test it off-shore.”

  “So . . . you’ll need a wind mage to harness the power of the wind and keep you afloat!”

  Rhidea gave him a stare, and he grinned back sheepishly. “Heheh.”

  “No,” she said flatly. “We’re not going to go against your uncle or your parents’ wishes by letting you steal away with us. We can find another wind mage if we must.”

  “But . . .”

  “We cannot risk the life of a child, boy.”

  He clamped his jaws shut and swallowed. “Yes’m.”

  “Lyn, Mydia,” said the High Mage, “We will do some more experimentation. We still have the hot air idea if this doesn’t work. But we have to see about taking two in one glider, and we have to test out those hot spots that Oliver speaks of. . . .”

  “Rhidea! You’re insane!” I shouted over the rush of air. I was diving nearly straight down, head-first, after Rhidea, who flew the other glider ten paces in front of and below me, strapped together with Mydia. Rhidea was on top, controlling the glider, with Mydia strapped below her. The skirts of both women flapped madly behind them, restricted though they were by the purposefully-chosen style.

  I had leapt from the cliff mere seconds after the two, Mydia’s screams of terror and excitement in front of me and my own heart pounding blood through my ears in an audible, frenzied rhythm.

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  “I know!” shrieked the queen. “I didn’t volunteer for thi—” The wind took the words, and possibly the breath, right from her mouth. I veered slightly to the right, twisting to the side and adjusting the wings with me, just in case I would need to dodge if they braked suddenly. But they continued to plummet, pulling out only gently before making a wide swoop that brought the glider up steeply. I followed, approaching the mistiest level of the chasm. The wings of the glider rattled and creaked, straining at the mad force of the arc. From the sound of her, Mydia seemed to be on the verge of puking all over us.

  “Sorry!” I could just barely make out the words trailing from Rhidea.

  I gritted my teeth and took the upward curve at a gentler degree, or at least I tried to. I had very little practice at this glider. Most of the control lay in turning and tilting one’s own body in the right directions. We had arranged for Rhidea to carry the extra passenger because I was nearly as heavy as both of them put together. (No, I am not fat. We’ve been over this.)

  According to Rhidea, she would be staying well within range for her gravity Authority to save us should these gliders shred themselves to bits—although of course at this point, if they hadn’t already, they should hold up. That was largely the purpose of this little escapade—to test the craftsmanship and safety of Oliver’s inventions.

  A quick glance behind showed me a terrifying picture of the rocky cliffside which ran down into the unfathomable mists. I had to reorient myself after glancing back. Up ahead, in front of Rhidea, I could make out one of the air disturbances that Oliver had talked about; hot air streams swirling up from the mists below. Rhidea and Mydia caught it just as their upward swoop was beginning to level off, and the wings lifted as they began to whirl upward with the updraft. And then they were out of it, left to their own. Mydia was making some kind of nervous racket about them never returning to the island at all.

  As I approached the updraft, I prepared to test out one of our theories: would my Flame Authority be of any use over air? I spread my palms, willing the air to heat up underneath me. I unleashed a weak but long burst of fire just as I came into the air current, and I felt the heat bolster my wings to drive the glider upwards. It took effort to keep myself from tipping, and I made my glider swoop into a tight curve in order to keep as close to the updraft as possible. In this way, I managed to get a large boost to my height and exited the “chimney” with extra vertical speed. Extra, but not by much.

  I saw the Isle of Scathii as I circled back once more, straightening out my flight to glide towards the cliff. But it was just above me. At the brink of the land, I could make out the ant-sized forms of Oliver and Kaen waving their hands madly. Almost enough height, but not quite.

  Below me, Rhidea had pulled their glider back into the chimney and seemed to be getting some lift this time. Perhaps now she was using her gravity Authority to try and minimize their weight and let the draft carry them higher. It might work . . . but I had to focus.

  The curved cliffs of Scathii approached ahead. I wasn’t going to try anything to fancy. I planned to climb right up the side. Kaen and Kymhar would have the ropes ready to toss over for me anyway. If only . . .

  There came a sudden snap from my right wing. The end of it broke and began to dangle, sending me into a twirling tailspin straight for the cliff. I cried out and struggled to right myself and stop the spin, but all I could do was check it a little. I lost more altitude as the cliffs rushed to greet me. Up above, amidst the dizzying spinning, I glimpsed a rope being thrown out hastily for me, but it wouldn’t reach down this far . . .

  I crashed sidelong into the stone of the island, breaking the left wing of my glider into an L shape and crushing my ribs, hip and head painfully. My ears immediately began to ring and my vision swam as I shouted, slipping against the stone, falling . . .

  I threw out my hands and scrabbled desperately against the jagged stone, slicing my hands. I managed to get a hold and stop myself, but my weight was nearly jerked from my grip by my own velocity. My neck whipped back and I thanked my unknown mother and father for my strong, resilient body, without which I’d be hopeless at this point. I shook my head, trying to clear the fog of pain as I gripped the rock with adrenaline-fueled fingers. Looking back, I saw Rhidea and Mydia gliding toward me, shouting desperately.

  “No!” I yelled back. “Just get back up—I’ll manage!” I knew I could make it somehow, and did not want them risking their own necks as well. Gritting my teeth, I looked upward, searching out my next handhold. I took it, dragging my glider’s broken wings with me, trying not to scrape my wounds against the rock, trying but failing to ignore the scream of bruised, possibly broken ribs in my chest. I hauled myself hand over hand, thankful for the frenzied burst of energy that gave me the strength. There were footholds, but the angle of the cliff was not yet fully vertical, so my fingers were the only thing keeping my body against the stone. One slip and I would fall backward into the bottomless chasm.

  I forced myself to climb higher, higher, till I could see most of the way up, see a rope dangling above and hear frantic shouting from the boys. Inch by inch, breath by painful breath, until at last I clutched hold of the rope and hung on for dear life. I gave a hoarse call, and they began jerkily towing me up the side. I walked with the rope, finally catching my breath and giving my muscles a brief rest.

  At long last, I took hold of the edge of the land and Kaen grabbed my good shoulder with his strong arms, Kymhar taking hold of my other shoulder, and they hauled me over the side. “Oh, Lyn!” Kaen gasped. “You’re hurt . . . but alive! Ugh, lay off the meats!”

  Kymhar pulled me to my feet. “You are lucky to be alive, lass.”

  “Where are the other two?” Oliver asked nervously, hands to his mouth. “I feel right terrible. . . .”

  As we watched, Rhidea and Mydia’s glider floated up above the island, having caught enough warm air to buoy their gravity-lightened load up to shore level. The two women awkwardly caught their footing and came to a stop. Mydia was practically clawing at her straps, shaking and pale.

  “Lyn!” she shrieked, rushing over and tripping immediately.

  “Mydia,” I said raggedly but relieved, “Rhidea. You made it, too. Good.” I allowed my head to sag, blurriness threatening to overtake my vision again. I had exerted a lot of myself, and my body was injured, but still the adrenaline pulsed frantically through my veins.

  The men got Mydia and Rhidea out of their gear, and everyone rushed to me, helping me out of my broken glider and dragging me back toward the house. We had attracted a couple of frightened villagers, who sent for healers as soon as they saw me. Good neighbors to have, I thought numbly. Nice people.

  Back at the house, Uncle Ben laid me down on a cot while we waited for the healers to arrive. I tried to protest that I would be fine, but my own mind and body betrayed me and I cut off into ragged coughing. I sure didn’t feel fine. I had made it out of tougher scrapes before, but I had used up a large amount of my strength reserves and also beaten my body quite well.

  On top of that, never before had I been faced with the utter terror of falling to my death in a bottomless abyss. (I know, I know, there was that time at the Hall of Eternity, but that doesn’t count.) Who knew how far of a drop it was, if there even was a bottom? Would I have just fallen forever into an endless chasm? They didn’t call it the Sea of Emptiness for nothing . . . but then again, no one knew that there was a continent on the far side of it, either. Ah . . . my brain was spinning in circles, and I really couldn’t focus anymore. I simply squeezed my eyes shut and waited until new voices arrived.

  A half hour later, they had me bandaged up in three different places. I’d been stripped nearly naked in front of, well . . . probably everyone except Oliver and Kaen, who had been shooed out by the healing woman. Kaen practically wouldn’t leave my side, of course, the mother hen . . . but he was no match for the healer’s forcefulness.

  I believe her name was Lena? She checked me out and declared me to have no broken bones, bless my lucky stars. She then dressed me up in a simple gown, gave me lots of water and herbal tea, and laid me down to rest. Mydia insisted on paying her handsomely. Neither the queen nor Kaen would leave my side no matter how hard I protested.

  Drowsiness overtook me, and the last thing I saw was a nervous Mydia clinging to Kaen.

  ??