If she ever caught the informant, she would throw them off the side of the divine beast herself.

  Diya had grown sick of staring at the mess of maps madly marked with red pins, so instead, she sat with her back to the table—as if it might understand it was being ignored—and tinkered with a prototype explosive. Unlike the standard-issue gunpowder bombs, this one relied on a mixture of lotus poppy and tulsi masala to lull its victims to sleep.

  Ingenious, in theory. In practice, the last failed batch had made a yard full of cadets burst into tears and bare their souls. The drill sergeant, a man who once claimed he’d never cried in his life, wept over his crippling fear of ducks. Meanwhile, two rival cadets declared their undying love before collapsing into each other’s arms.

  She’d made a note to apologize. Someday. Maybe. Another note, smaller, to keep the failed formula. Folks liked to say that honesty didn’t cost a thing, but in her experience, when push came to shove people often chose convenience over truth.

  Her favorite thing about new inventions was the way folks had short memories regarding previous failures once they were presented with the perfected version. If only life could be more like tinkering in her workshop. Diya thought, rolling her new and improved lotus poppy sleep bomb supreme in her hands.

  She scrunched her nose and cocked a brow. Note to self, definitely going to need a better name than that. Sacred beast knows I loathe the naming part

  The tent was quiet now but for the soft hiss of rain. Rugs lay rumpled and tea-stained on the uneven ground. The air reeked of brass, ink, and the bitter trace of failed experiments. A thin thread of smoke wound from the brazier, coiling above the map like a clove-scented reminder she was neglecting her responsibilities in favor of playing.

  Outside, rain battered the canvas like a thousand impatient fingers. Inside, Diya adjusted her goggles, muttered something impolite to the laws of chemistry, and began loading her new and improved formula into a ceramic jar.

  A cold drop of rain landed on her boot. Sighing, she realized it was far from the first. The wet squish when she wiggled her toes was a sad sort of confirmation. Looking down, she noticed that her worn boot had a hole in it. An old boot was certainly better than no boot, but she couldn’t help but wonder why The Council couldn’t allocate more funds to the Township’s military.

  A boot with a hole in it was fine. A tent with a hole in it was fine. But both, well, that put an exclamation mark on her concerns of fiscal mismanagement by The Council.

  It was late. Her eyelids felt heavy. She reached for her mug, lifting the chai tea to her lips, cursing under her breath when she realized it was empty.

  Right as she set the empty mug down and yawned, the door of the canvas military tent opened behind her.

  “Figured you’d still be up,” said Rohan, a tall man with black hair swept back in a loose knot. He held up a steaming mug of tea, “thought you might fancy some caffeine.”

  Diya rubbed her tired eyes and took the tea from him, tucking her prototype into a pouch behind her back and getting back to staring at the map, “you’re a life saver.”

  He looked like he had something he wanted to say, then caught himself and pivoted to the matter at hand, “how’s the investigation going?”

  “Something’s fishy.”

  Rohan sniffed himself. “I could use a trip to the bathhouse, but fishy is a bit mean.”

  “Not you,” she said, rolling her eyes. “No matter how we allocate our military escorts, the syndicate always finds a way to hit our least protected airships.”

  “Better lucky than good, isn’t that what the gamblers always say?”

  “It’s not luck. There’s something more.”

  Rohan shrugged. “Why can’t The Council up our security escort numbers?”

  “Not that I believe it,” she groaned. “But they say we’ve mobilized every soldier we can, and there’s just no funds left in the coffers to arm and feed any more.”

  “If we keep allowing the Syndicate to hit our hunting and mining airships, there won’t be a township, let alone their all-important coffers.”

  There was a pregnant pause as Diya studied her maps. “There’s a rat.”

  He spit out a bit of his tea, one bushy eyebrow raising curiously, “in our company?”

  “I don’t think so. I’ve been testing the theory for the past few weeks. So far no leaks from our side.”

  His tongue clicked. “Where else could the leaks be coming from?”

  “My investigation leads me to dangerous places,” Diya’s eyes looked around the disheveled military tent, as if someone invisible might be listening. Leaning in close to him, she whispered, “The Council.”

  His eyes, the color of wet teakwood after rain, widened, “that’s a treasonous allegation to throw around, Di, how can you be sure?”

  “I can’t,” she muttered. “And this needs to stay between you and me, until I can. But I have a plan to smoke out the rat.”

  “Well don’t tell me the plan. What if I’m the rat?”

  She smirked, “I’ve known you since we were four years old, Rohan. You are not the rat.”

  He laughed, “You’re right, but I could sure use a bit of extra cheese. My parents are starving back home. Lentils for every meal will wear on even the toughest individuals. They say times have never been worse.”

  “It’s hitting all of us. I’ve been dreaming about a juicy steak for the past month. Damn pirates are laughing their fat asses off while we starve.”

  “Makes my blood boil,” Rohan said, jaw clenched.

  “The Council’s still living it up as well. Guess they’re above rationing like the rest of us.”

  “What’s your plan to find the leak?”

  Diya looked around again, then took a step closer, so that their faces were inches apart. “I’m going to tell each of them a different escort plan tomorrow morning. We’ll see how the next week shakes out, then I’ll be able to figure out which one is working with the pirates.”

  Rohan’s eyes lit up, “bloody brilliant.”

  “What can I say, beauty and brains,” laughed Diya.

  “If I find out I’ve been eating lentils for every meal because of one of those slimy buffoons, I will throw them off the side of the township,” said Rohan. “And I’d enjoy every second of watching them plummet to the surface.”

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  ***

  The wind against her face, the feeling of feathers brushing against her legs, and the sight of the sun melting into the horizon was the perfect reminder that life was beautiful.

  Diya and her squadron hid in the clouds above the hunting airships as they returned home from a bountiful hunt. The day had been uneventful for her security escort thus far. Not a bad thing usually, but she needed action for the rat to reveal itself.

  She ran gloved fingers along the neck of her beloved mount, Shikra. Her roc was a gorgeous shade of burnt umber and by far the fastest in the entire Township Ghanesha air force. They had built an unbreakable bond over the years. It wasn’t a stretch to say that despite not being human, Shikra was her best friend in the world.

  Including herself, she had four giant birds and their riders on this mission. Rohan flew at her side atop a jet-black roc and they had two younger riders just behind them.

  Diya was beginning to think this security mission might pass uneventfully, that’s when she heard the alarm sirens ringing from below. It could only mean that the pirate airships were approaching. A whisper of a smile creased her lips.

  Gracefully she flashed hand signals to her squadron to prepare for battle. Without hesitation she whistled, and Shikra beat her massive and powerful wings, hurling them downward.

  She pulled out a copper eyeglass and sized up the raiders. Appearing from the clouds like a ship in the night, were three ember class airships, each armed with light weaponry. All had the signature red and black striped flags of the Crimson Mast Syndicate waving.

  The ships each had approximately eight pirates on their deck, all armed with black powder rifles, swords, and she squinted her eyes to make out the last bit of weaponry. Diya groaned, bloody hell, they’ve got nets and cannons? Better equipped than normal. They definitely got intel from The Council.

  Diya whistled and Shikra made a sudden sharp right turn as a cannon ball whizzed through the air where they had been a moment prior. The crew aboard the two Ghaneshan hunting airships ducked for cover, clearly terrified. Diya didn’t need to worry about the crew for now though. The pirates wouldn’t risk shooting their precious payday out of the sky, the heavy weapons were meant for her and her squadron.

  She made a few quick hand signs to alert her squad of the enemy’s weaponry and signal their attack maneuvers.

  Nodding, Rohan and one of the fresh recruits cut through the sky towards the lead pirate vessel.

  Diya and the other recruit took a looping path towards the pirate airship bringing up the rear. Black powder smoke puffed from all over the decks of the pirate ships, filling the air with lead.

  The recruit was nowhere to be found, likely spooked by the hailstorm of hot lead, probably disappeared back into the clouds above. It didn’t matter much to Diya now.

  She grinned like she belonged in an asylum, pulling a ceramic explosive from her satchel and lighting the long fuse. Fiery gradients reflecting in her eyes.

  With a blood curdling scream, Shikra charged straight toward the rear airship. Muskets and cannons boomed like lightning. The smell of sulfur hung in the air.

  Diya and Shikra dipped down, and the torrent of ammunition flew by overhead. As they passed under the hull of the pirate airship, she shot out a window with her flintlock, then tossed the lotus poppy bomb into the cabin.

  Like a bullet, the pair rocketed out the other side of the ship, dodged a volley of musket balls, then ascended back into the clouds. Diya looked back over her shoulder to see the rear airship falling from the sky with billowing smoke pouring from the cabin.

  Now’s no time for a nap, captain. She pumped her fist and laughed, ecstatic to see her new weapon work so well. Diya tightened her grip on Shikra’s feathers, and whistled.

  In a flash she was back in the obscuring cover of the clouds. Diya could no longer see the airship, but she could tell by the horrified screams vanishing down towards the surface that it and all aboard it were not long for this world.

  When they reappeared out of the clouds, she could see that Rohan and the new recruit were struggling with the first ship. She didn’t fault them, after all there was nothing easy about dodging hot lead, flying a giant bird, and keeping one’s composure while twenty thousand feet up. They would have to manage on their own for now, she needed to deal with the nets.

  All around the airships floated gigantic nets held aloft by helium balloons. They could be triggered to collapse and ensnare anything around them. Traditionally they were used when hunting, but they were a real pain in the ass for her and her bird riders as well.

  Diya and Shikra shifted their focus to getting rid of them. They soared through the sky, narrowly dodging the torrent of musket balls and cannon balls. Shikra’s razor-sharp talons made short work of the balloons keeping the nets in the sky, and one by one they fell towards the surface until none remained.

  She let out a bellowing war cry, ecstatic that none of her squadron would wind up ensnared. A bloodied pirate on the deck of the airship next to the pair caught her attention. He had a cannon aimed directly at her and was just about to fire it. With them so close there would be no time for Diya to evade. She gulped.

  That’s when a musket ball cut right through the pirate’s neck and he crumpled to the deck in a mess of gore.

  Diya and Shikra dipped under the pirate ship to safety. She looked back to see Rohan aiming down his jezail at where the pirate had been. The recruit next to him was doing surprisingly well, her roc was scooping up pirates from the deck and flinging them overboard.

  A cannon belched, a split second later the recruit and her bird disappeared in a spray of red mist.

  Diya flinched. No matter how many times it happened, she never got used to seeing her comrades killed.

  With a deep exhale she pulled her last gunpowder bomb from the satchel, lit it, and heaved it onto the airship’s deck, aiming for the mast.

  Once more they disappeared into the clouds. No need to look back this time. The thunderous explosion followed by screams, confirmed the efficacy of her deadly work.

  They poked out then back into the clouds to find that only one pirate airship remained. But Diya spotted Rohan and he was on his back foot, the pirate crew was doing their very best to shoot him and his gigantic bird out of the twilight sky.

  Diya and Shikra dove from the clouds directly above the pirate airship. The recruit who had run away was carrying the rest of the explosives, so now Diya would need to get her hands dirty. First, she needed to thin the pirates out.

  Shikra swooped across the deck cutting one pirate in half with her vicious talons and picking up another with her beak in a violent blur. Gunshots went off all around them, but thankfully they were quick enough to avoid being hit. Shikra tossed the pirate in her beak out into the open sky, screeching like the predator she was.

  The pair did a quick barrel roll under the ship, reappearing on the other side of the deck where Shikra slashed a pirate manning a cannon. Diya slid from her mount—whistling for Shikra to disappear back into the safety of the clouds—then dipped behind a stack of supply crates.

  She peeked out the side, before quickly ducking back behind cover as a splinter of wood erupted next to her.

  There were only two pirates left on the deck. They were almost safe.

  Diya couldn’t get a good shot on either pirate from where she was. She peeked out, then ducked back behind cover as splinters erupted all around her. One of the two was manning a foreign weapon she had never seen before, it was like a rifle but with many barrels that rotated to fire shots in rapid succession.

  A brief pause. Then it began firing again and wood fragments exploded around her. With a quick curse, she ran from her spot behind the rapidly disintegrating crates towards a cabin that seemed to be made from sturdy metal plates. Bullets plinked off the railing and deck, the pirate’s aim following hot on her heels. As she ran, she had a grim realization, she wasn’t fast enough the wicked foreign weapon was going to gun her down.

  Just then her vision blurred. She most peculiarly felt the blood in her body pounding. Right as the bullets were about to reach her, a surge of energy washed through her and with a burst of speed, she outran the storm of hot lead, sliding to safety behind the plates of metal.

  This spot was better. She heard the shots thud into the exterior of the cabin. Diya pulled a pistol from the brace of pistols strapped to her chest. With no hesitation she popped up and took her shot. Bullseye.

  The big oaf of a pirate manning the foreign weapon clutched at his chest where blood was now spraying like a fountain. The last pirate on the deck’s eyes went wide with terror as a bullet from the clouds ripped through his eye, he was dead before he hit the deck. Rohan and his roc landed on the deck next to the dead pirate. The bird tearing into his flesh like he was little more than a snack.

  Deck now clear, Diya descended into the cargo hold of the airship, loaded pistol drawn.

  Corrugated steel walls, streaked with rust and soot, bore the scars of old battles and botched landings. The floor was uneven, pocked with oil stains and rivets that had worked themselves loose over time. Wooden crates, some splintered, some branded with the emblems of various townships filled the hold.

  There weren’t any more pirates down there, but she was surprised to find an old woman chained up in the hold with the supplies. The old woman was bruised and bloodied, wore a feathered mask, and was covered entirely in geometric tattoos. She sat in complete silence. Oddly enough, she didn’t seem scared by the commotion above deck.

  Diya tilted her head slightly, looking down at the bound woman before offering her a hand. “I’m going to trust you, don’t make me regret it. Now come with me, we’ve got to get out of here.”

  Mine is earl grey : )