Warsinger by James Baldwin (most important books of all time txt) 📕

I dropped like a stone. Heart pounding, I spread all four limbs out and reequipped my Raven Suit and helmet.

“You're falling too fast to land on me!” Karalti cried. “I'm going to catch you in my hand. Don't fuck this up!”

I turned in the air like a skydiver, using my hands and feet like paddles. The air around me was lifting, driven up by the power of the dragon's wings as she strove toward me. Quazi were gathering behind her in formation, but even after losing a huge amount of blood, carrying Suri in one hand, Jacob in her jaws, and Vash on her back, Karalti could outfly every one of them. She stretched her arms toward me, and I saw what I needed to do to survive this and not become a Hector pancake.

“Keep them out like that! Don't try and snatch me!” I tucked my shoulders in and dropped my head down to dive.

I did my best to angle toward her. Karalti grew larger and larger, until I was sure I was about to collide with her neck and bounce off... but instead, I shot by her head and desperately flung all my limbs out to catch her arm. The shock of impact rattled my teeth, but I caught on and held on - with Spider Climb. Suri was clutched in the other hand, pale with shock. I gave her a cheesy thumbs-up, then scurried up my dragon’s shoulder and onto her back. I had never been happier to see a pair of saddle straps.

“Hold on! Evasive maneuvers!” Karalti dipped a wing and plummeted into a side-ward dive. I heard Suri scream, and looked back to see Vash clinging to anything he could. Karalti rolled out of the way of the quazi who shot by her. She burned precious mana to Split Turn, changing direction in the air like a swallow, and winged her way toward the desert.

“Can you outlast them?” I faced backwards to watch the enemies as they strove to catch up.

“Maybe.” She was so hot the leather saddle felt gummy, her chest heaving. “If we can’t shake these quazi, it’s a toss-up whether I’ll run out of stamina or mana first.”

I checked her sheet and grimaced. She was at eighty-one out of over three hundred. The Teleport spell cost 50 points: according to what I’d read on the Archemiwiki, if she got below 10% mana, she was at risk of passing out or losing control while in flight due to a lapse in blood pressure, and guaranteed to pass out at 0%. And given I’d managed to fuck up a summoning with a 60% chance of success…

“Teleport to Kalla Sahasi,” I said. “But try to come in low.”

Chapter 43

We appeared low to the ground in Kalla Sahasi, which was just as well. Karalti landed at a run and tripped forward a couple of steps before sagging to lean against the gatehouse. She panted hot clouds of steam around Jacob the Architect, who hung from her mouth like a ragdoll.

“You... need to... take him...” Even her telepathic voice sounded winded. “I’m pretty sure he… peed himself while he’s in my mouth, and I really don’t need that in my life right now. What I need is sleep. Lots and lots of sleep.”

“You sleep as long as you need.” I looked back to make sure Vash was alright. “We have to plan our next steps.”

“Karalti! Let me go! KARALTI!” Suri's voice pealed out from below. “Get your bloody paws off me and throw that miserable little limp-dicked mongrel down where I can get him!”

I sighed, rubbed my eyes, and slid down to the ground. “Can you drop Suri first? Hold on to Jacob for a bit while I talk some sense into her.”

Suri was still covered in blood and dirt, her hair a wild muddy mop hanging over one eye. Karalti dropped her with a heavy 'clang'. When she stood up, she began to pace underneath the dragon's chest, staring up at Jacob with the same crazed expression Cutthroat got when she spotted a rat in the barn.

“Suri, hear me out.” I held my hands up as I drew up beside her. “We need him alive. If you kill him, he’ll respawn in Dalim and we’ll never see him again. Let's throw him in the dungeons. They still work.”

“Work?” She paused pacing and faced me. “Work how?”

“Work, as in, if we officially imprison him, he can't P.M his buddy, teleport out, or do much of anything.” I fixed her a hard look. “Davri's dead. And she didn't tell us where we could find Sachara's Tomb.”

Suri had some self-control issues, but she wasn’t stupid. Her jaw worked for a moment, then she craned her head up to look at the man hanging limply from Karalti's jaws. “Right. But we need someone higher level than him to guard him.”

“I can do it,” Vash said, hopping down to the ground beside me. “And no, I won't lose my temper with him if he sits on a cockroach. Everything you saw in Dalim was an act.”

“Even the fly?” I asked.

“Especially the fly. That customs official was about to rob us blind,” he said. “I'm guessing this pathetic creature is one of the Wardens you told me about?”

Suri nodded. “Yeah. Same arseholes. Nicolas got away. I wish we'd caught him instead of the Rat. The Giant was the worse of the two, easily. I’ve dreamed about popping that guy’s head off his neck like a cork for months now.”

“As would I.” Vash cocked his head to the side in thought. “You know, though, that of the pair of them, this one might be more... personable. You know? Capable of being persuaded.”

“Voivode Rule Number Two,” I said. “Torture is not allowed in Kalla Sahasi.”

Vash scoffed. “I wasn't talking about torture, you numbnuts. Torture is the recourse of losers. I’m talking about interrogation, which is an entirely different art. Here's what we do: we give him an initial interview, and