Wexler, Django - Burningblade & Silvereye 02 - Blood of the Chosen by Wexler Django

Author:Wexler, Django [Wexler, Django]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orbit
Published: 2021-10-05T00:00:00+00:00

An auto was a grounded version of a flitter. It was oval-shaped, narrowing at the front and rounded on the bottom, a bit like a mussel shell made of unmetal. The top was open, and two pairs of cushioned seats faced one another in the back while a driver sat in front. The whole thing hovered half a meter off the ground, driven by sunsplinters and the same repulsion grid that powered the flitters.

Behind the docks was a long, busy street, full of vehicles of every description. This section was mostly fishing craft, so there were carts being loaded with the catch, and others delivering stocks of food and bait to waiting vessels, pulled by loadbirds, thickheads, or occasionally small, curly-haired ponies. Farther out from the dock, traffic ground slowly forward, and the transport carts were joined by carriages and autos. The latter mostly bore fluttering green flags at their sterns, which Varo explained meant they were for hire. He secured one by stepping fearlessly in front of an offended loadbird and flagging down the driver, who obligingly stopped his strange craft and waited for them to climb aboard.

“Blueglass Restaurant,” Varo said. “Over on Seventeenth.”

The driver nodded amiably and named a fare that made Maya’s eyes pop. Fortunately, the travel funds they’d been given were ample. She counted out the bills. Varo slid another dekathaler from the stack and added it to the total, which the driver acknowledged with a cheerful smile.

“If you don’t throw in a little extra,” Varo explained quietly, “he might get ‘lost’ and demand more anyway. Auto drivers are all crooked.”

“Really?” Beq said. “He looks nice enough.”

“Trust me,” Varo said darkly.

“I’m glad you came along,” Maya said. “I would have been lost already.”

Varo gave a grunt, looking uncharacteristically sour. He settled back in his seat as the auto turned off the dock street and accelerated, traffic opening out. The buildings they were passing were of normal size, Maya was somewhat disappointed to see. The spires of the city core rose off to her left, but this area reminded her a bit of Deepfire, block after neatly laid-out block of well-trimmed stone and brick buildings with slate roofs and glassed windows.

If Beq was disappointed too, it didn’t show. She lurched from one side of the auto to the other, staring at everything they passed. Every squeak she made seemed to irritate Varo, but Maya found her energy infectious.

“It almost feels like we’re back in Elder times,” Beq said as they rounded a corner. A long street led all the way to the Senate building, spires rising beside it like a glassed-in canyon. “Can you imagine?”

“Not sure there would have been quite as much bird shit on the road in Elder times,” Varo said. “Can’t see the Chosen putting up with it.”

“Is this close to where you grew up?” Maya said.

He blinked, then laughed. “This? This is for respectable people.” He gestured to their right. “Head that way, and things get… less respectable. The slums go on for kilometers.

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