Wings of Justice (City of Light Book 1) Read online

  "Thank you," I said as I sat in the chair next to my wingmate.

  Fallon shot me an angry glare, but she directed her cold blue eyes across the desk when the beautiful captain took her own seat. The ebony-haired woman wasn't wearing her rapier, but she did have a pistol harnessed to her lithe torso. It looked like one of those expensive flint-sparking weapons that the upper echelon of the city would use, but I knew better. Each of the nest captains was gifted by the Priestesses with one of the gold-plated weapons, and they never needed to be reloaded or maintained.

  For an uncomfortable few seconds, Ocellina flipped through a stack of papers. From the angry-looking handwriting, I guessed that they were Fallon's report, and I forced my eyes elsewhere. The captain's office was decorated with beautiful oil paintings of the city, potted ferns, and the countless award banners that she had received during her amazing career.

  "Do you ladies know why I took command of this nest a few months ago?" The raven-haired woman set down the report and turned her dark eyes toward Fallon and me.

  "No, ma'am," Fallon answered before I could. I actually did know the answer, since I'd followed Ocellina's career from the moment she had first been given the Alula.

  "It was the worst-performing nest in all of Petrasada. Crime in our district was out of control, citizens complained about Potentia abuse, and then three of our sisters were killed on the last Moon Night. This place was a disaster. Fallon, your memory does go back six months, does it not?"

  "Yes, ma'am," Fallon nodded at the captain, and I could read no emotion on my wingmate's face.

  "These murders are out of hand, and the last thing I want to do is call another nest in here for assistance. It would be embarrassing for all of us." The captain sat back in her leather chair with a sigh. "But, as you often say, Fallon, results matter. There are twelve other Potentia I command, and I need you all to find someone who we can connect to these murders."

  "The man who Anelia killed was the murderer. If she had not--"

  "Ahhh." The captain held up a finger and cut Fallon's words short. "I've read your report and examined the body myself. The man was a rancher and butcher. It was cow's blood on his boots."

  "Then why did he run? He was guilty of something." Fallon crossed her arms, and I saw the nails of her hand dig into the leather armor on her bicep.

  "Why wouldn't he run? He had one Potentia screaming at him while another chased him. These people are afraid of us. Do you have any idea why that might be, Fallon?" Ocellina raised an eyebrow, and her lips curled into the faintest outline of a smirk. I was surprised that the captain wasn't yelling at my partner again. It seemed as if Fallon had made a serious miscalculation by asking me to chase after the suspect.

  "No, ma'am." My wingmate seemed to have gained control of her emotions, and I noticed her fingers relax.

  "Your report doesn't mention anything about questioning Rafa Manus' wife, the inn's patrons, or his suppliers. Are there some pages missing from this?" Ocellina gestured to the four-inch stack that Fallon had transcribed. The beautiful woman's eyes flashed dangerously at my wingmate, and I wondered if she was about to resume her shouting.

  "I didn't have time to question them because of the mess that the pigeon made," Fallon nodded her head over to me. "I will question them immediately. May I be dismissed?" My wingmate seemed completely unaffected by Ocellina's disciplinary shouting.

  "Take the night off. I don't want to hear of you visiting Manus' inn. Understand?" Ocellina's voice took on a hard edge, and the older woman nodded her head slowly.

  "Good. I'll see you in the morning. Dismissed," the captain said, and I stood with Fallon.

  "Sit back down, Anelia." The raven-haired woman turned her gaze back to me. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fallon grin, and I felt my stomach drop again. I had almost thought I was going to get out of here without getting kicked from the Potentia.

  "Do you want to tell me what happened?" Ocellina asked after Fallon had left the office.

  "I made a mistake. I was foolish."

  "Probably, but you are new. The reason we put pigeons with more-experienced Potentia is so that they will learn. Fallon is supposed to be hard on you, a bit more conscientious of your safety, but still hard on you. She shouldn't have sent you after the suspect alone." The beautiful woman laughed, and I felt my uneasiness swell. I had often been accused of possessing more than a little adulation for Captain Ocellina, and I hated to think that she expected me to run from the dangerous parts of my job.

  "I understand," I said, but the lump in my throat had returned with the tone of the captain's voice.

  "Ahhh, I know you do. Here, look at this." She reached into a drawer of her expensive wooden desk and set a worn-looking folder on top of Fallon's report.

  "Do you know what this is?"

  "No ma'am, but it looks like one of the training folders my instructors would carry."

  "Yes, do you know what yours says?"

  "Nothing flattering, I would guess." I forced my lips into a smile, and my heart began to race. This was it. She'd figured out that I shouldn't have ever been accepted into the Potentia.

  "Exactly." Ocellina leaned her head back and let out a laugh that sounded like musical bells. "You were one of the worst performers across all categories. Especially in fencing and hand-to-hand combat." I felt my cheeks redden at her words, and I forced an even breath out of my lungs. "But I still recommended you anyway, and I was delighted when I saw that my nest was your first pick. Do you know why?"

  "No ma'am," the tension left my muscles. Thank the Priestesses, she wasn't going to fire me from the Potentia.

  "Perhaps there is a bit of nepotism. You know I am an orphan as well?" she asked, and I nodded my head. "And both of us were born on a Moon Night. Only happens once a year, so that is something else we share." I nodded again. I knew everything about Ocellina's career, and perhaps our similarities had originally gotten me interested in her.

  "But there is something else that the tests and placements don't show. I recommended you because you have heart. You don't quit. I saw it time and time again when I was elected to survey the training program. The other nestlings would get discouraged when they failed. They would become broken things when met with challenges that they couldn't overcome immediately. You seemed to grow stronger with each failure. That is what we need here. We need women with everlasting strength. We need women with backbone. There are only three hundred of us, and we are responsible for the safety of Petrasada and her citizens. The Priestesses have given us our magic, and the city guard swears allegiance to our command. It is a life that demands strength. Not just because of the difficulties entailed, but because we represent the order of existence. I know you understand this."

  "Yes, ma'am." I felt a smile come to my face, and the ache from my fall seemed to disappear with her words. I hadn't realized that Ocellina had intervened in my placement, and the news explained my surprise at being selected from the crowd of other women who had seemed to perform better than me on all our training tests.

  "Good. I have an eye for talent. I'm expecting you to solve these murders. Not on your first day, of course, but you will learn a great deal from Fallon while you are her wingmate."

  "We will still be wingmates?" I asked.

  "Of course, and I expect you two to get along for as long as I command you to be a team. Understand?" She smiled coyly.

  "Yes, ma'am," I nodded. "What of the man's family? I will visit them and give my apologies." The lump formed in my chest when I thought about telling the man's wife and his children what I had done.

  "Unfortunately, Spurius Canta did not have a family."

  "Unfortunately?"

  "Yes, it would have been good for you to see the consequences of mistakes. Telling someone that you've accidently killed a member of their family would temper your future judgment."

  "I understand, ma'am," the lump moved down from my throat and into my stomach. It felt like I'd eaten some bad food.

  "D
o not be too upset by the lost opportunity, Anelia. The report said that the man did try to kill you with his knife, and while he was a rancher, he had also been arrested over a dozen times for violence. I'm not going to say that his killing was justified, but you defended yourself as expected. Understand?"

  "Yes, ma'am," I sighed, and felt the terror uncoil from my intestines.

  "Excellent. Do you have friends from your orphanage?"

  "Yes, ma'am?" I was surprised by her question, but her tone of voice made me believe that our conversation was coming to an end.

  "At the end of my first day as a pigeon, I went drinking with all of my orphanage friends. I think I drank my bodyweight in cheap beer and another body weight's worth of sweet cider. I woke up the next morning with a terrible hangover and then worked for three days to solve my first case. The first night of drinking is a tradition with pigeons, so I order you to have a good time tonight. Understand?"

  "Yes, ma'am." This was my dismissal, so I stood and placed my hand over the clasp of my cloak to salute her.

  "You and I will celebrate together when you are promoted from pigeon to full Potentia. I did it in two months. I think you can beat that time. What do you say?"

  "I will work hard to make it so, ma'am," I couldn't help but smile at the beautiful woman.

  "Good. Dismissed." She nodded, and I exited her office into the busy bullpen of the nest.

  Chapter 3

  "How was your first day?" My brother was waiting on a clay street bench outside the nest. He jumped to his feet as soon as he saw me and gifted me with a handsome smile.

  "I need a beer, or eleven," I laughed and let him wrap his arm around mine.

  "I know just the place." He winked at me, and I laughed.

  "Juliana's?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

  "Yep! Everyone is waiting for us. Let's go!" He tugged on my arm, and I shook my head and followed him.

  "So, it didn't go well?" he asked after we took a few steps toward our favorite tavern. It was on the far side of level twelve, so we had about an hour's worth of stairs and walking before we made it there. I almost told him that I wanted to eat some place closer, but then I remembered Ocellina's order. Drinking with my friends on the far side of Petrasada was appropriate.

  "Yes and no," I said. "I made a mess of the day, but I believe that my captain is happy with me. I just got out of a meeting with her."

  "Ohh!" His eyes got large, and he smiled again. "I'd love to get a private meeting with Captain Ocellina. Do you think she'd want to have dinner with a very motivated cooper's apprentice?" He wiggled his eyebrows when he asked, and I fought against my laughter.

  "She might be interested, but are you making barrels now? I thought you were a tailor's apprentice last week? Weren't you a cobbler before that? What happened to the six months you spent blacksmithing?"

  "Barrels and pots are a much more worthwhile endeavor, Sis. I kept poking myself with needles."

  "Were you poking yourself with needles?" I smirked at him, "or were you poking the master's daughter with your--"

  "Hey, hey, hey now." My brother pulled his arm from mine and waved my words away. "It wasn't my fault that he didn't understand that I wasn't ready to commit to a single woman for the rest of my days. Can you believe that he tried to stab me with his shears? He seemed so mild mannered when I first took the position."

  "I can't imagine why someone would feel that way about you." I rolled my eyes and let him take my arm again. My brother was extremely handsome, ridiculously charming, and he had enjoyed an easy path growing up in our orphanage. The governesses had all loved my sibling, and so did the other kids who lived in the packed home. The easy upbringing had not prepared him for young adulthood, and he hadn't been able to find steady work for the last few years.

  "Exactly! But, I'd be a fitting groomsman for your captain. What do you say, Sis?" He wiggled his eyebrows again, and I was forced to laugh. The sensation felt wonderful in my stomach, and some of the day's stresses began to leave my shoulders. There was a clock on a passing wall, and it said that the time was well into the second half of the day. Most of the stores were closing, and soon the narrow streets would be filled with workers trying to get home or to their favorite tavern.

  "Maybe I will mention you after I get promoted." I shook my head at him and tried to fight back my smile. I couldn't imagine Captain Ocellina getting along with Vibus. He was just too lazy, and I didn't want to risk any part of my career on my brother's whimsical relationships.

  "I understand. That will give me the chance to hone my cooper craft. I should be a master in a few months. Ahhh, look at this view!"

  Vibus had walked me to one of the bamboo ladders that descended to the next level. He leaned against the railing by the edge of the steep cliff and opened his arms to the horizon.

  "I normally don't get up to the thirty-fourth level of Petrasada. I know it isn't anywhere close to the top, but I think I can see all the way to the edge of the first level. Do you see it?" He pointed with his finger.

  "Yes," I admitted. I'd donned the Alula last night during a long ceremony that involved bathing in the Apa Pool at the top of the vertical city. I had felt different after the Priestesses chanted their prayers and placed the magical garment over my bare shoulders. The woman who had performed the ceremony told me that I would experience improved health for the rest of my life, and I wondered if my vision was already getting better. I didn't think I could see that far before.

  "It is blustery. I think I can see where the chains meet the Keidas Desert." He pointed to the right a bit, and I followed his finger to the links that connected the bottom of the large floating island city to the distant desert below us.

  The massive rings of the chain hung from below the first level of the floating city and stretched to a horizon so far away that we actually had to look upward. My brother was correct, it was a windy day, and the clouds that normally surrounded the chains were absent. I could see where the massive links sank into the ground of the endless wastelands. The chains were rumored to be over fifty miles long, so each rectangular loop looked tiny from this distance. We had once walked to the edge of the first level of the city and peered down at the nearest links. From that place, they were still several hundred feet away, but each individual link was said to be almost a quarter of a mile in diameter.

  "Hey, I just realized that you can fly down there now. Can you carry me?" My brother's eyes grew wide at the thought, and he glanced at the cloak that hung from my shoulders.

  "I wish I could, but we aren't permitted to fly outside the first level unless we have a specific assignment signed off by our nest's captain." I shrugged.

  "Oh, but you could--"

  "I'm also not really strong enough to carry anyone." I interrupted what I knew he was going to ask me with a smile. "Some of the Potentia can, but I've only had about a minute of flying time, and my wingmate yelled at me the entire journey to our first case."

  "Well, that sounds terrible. So she isn't fun?" He smirked.

  "She is the exact opposite of fun, but the job isn't supposed to be fun. I'll tell you more over a beer, or eleven, like I said earlier. Let's get going."

  "Can you glide me down, though?" He stuck his tongue out of the corner of his mouth and pointed at the bamboo ladder. "It isn't flying, it is controlled falling. Let's try."

  "Hmmm." I looked around and saw that the streets were about a quarter full. Still, the Alula's pale blue color attracted attention, and I noticed that most of the citizens of Petrasada looked at me from the corners of their eyes as they walked past us.

  "Let's try, but if I drop you, and you break your tailbone, don't come crying to me." There are no Potentia rules written about giving your brother, or anyone else, a ride with the magic cloak, but I guessed that Fallon would spend an hour screeching at me if she knew.

  "You got it." He raised his arms to his side as if he was a bird and started flapping them like an idiot.

  "You don't need to do that." I
laughed while I wrapped my arms across the front of his chest so that I pressed into his back. "Just relax and get ready to land." I felt my cloak begin to change from the cloth fabric into the bird-like feathers. It would probably take me years to master the change and feel of the magic, but the Priestess had told me that I would be able to use the basic powers of the Alula within a few hours of the enchantment binding it to me.

  I did feel a bit stronger, and I had no problem lifting my much heavier brother and stepping to the edge of the bamboo ladder. The next rooftop was only twenty feet below me, so even if the Alula didn't work as it had earlier we probably wouldn't fall hard. I still let out a long breath and prayed to the Priestesses that I wouldn't kill both of us.

  Then I leaned off the edge of the level.

  The cloak sprang into full wings as soon as my boots left the ledge, and Vibus' weight tugged against my arms. For half a second, I thought that the cloak would collapse under the combined weight, but the wings felt as if they were part of my body, and I rotated them against the winds of the city as if they were feathered kites attached to my back.

  "Woooohoooo!" My brother opened his arms again like a bird, and we started to float toward the lower floor. The glide seemed completely under my control, and I found that I could easily aim us to overshoot the next level, and even beyond.

  "Wow!" I thought I heard my brother whisper as the lower levels of Petrasada spread out below us.

  The massive floating rock that the dense metropolis clung to was the shape of a fat trapezohedron, and each lower level was significantly wider than the one above it. Below the first level, where most of the farming and ranching was maintained for the city, the surface of the floating rock tapered to another point. I'd never seen the bottom, dark half of Petrasada, but I had studied plenty of sketches during my education at the orphanage. We'd once had a miner visit the school to tell us of the complications involved in recovering metals while hanging a mile over the endless Keidas Desert.