A Flight of Broken Wings: Aeriel Trilogy #1

Chapter 68

Biting into the luscious kebab dripping with sauce, Vikram moaned happily. "You should come stay with us, Ashwin," he said, beaming up at the grinning young man who was currently passing him his coffee. "You're wasted on Ruban."

"I agree," Shwaan sighed, shaking his head. "Your friend does not recognise the value of true talent."

"I think I'd recognise it more if you didn't see fit to destroy my kitchen in the process of demonstrating it," Ruban drawled, taking a sip of his coffee before returning his attention to the kebab.

"Can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, my friend," Vikram retorted, stealing an onion from his wife's plate, who made to stab his hand with her fork.

"And this is why you're a bad influence on Sri," she declared, stealing her onion back and popping it into her mouth.

"Speaking of Sri, don't his mid-term holidays start this week?" asked Ruban, glancing at his partner. "What's the plan this year?"

"None for this month," Vikram replied around a mouthful of kebab when his wife proved too focused on her food to indulge in small-talk. "None for us, at least. He's off to some coding camp to learn how to be the Jack Sparrow of computers or something like that. Next month we're thinking of paying a visit to my mother in Alari. See how she's getting on with the new neighbours and all that. Plus it'll be cooler there. Less wet too, if luck's on our side."

"Well it's just as well, I suppose," Simani said before shoving a forkful of baked vegetables into her mouth. "It's not like we're getting a leave anytime soon, what with the SifCo case and everything. Good thing Sri has something to keep him occupied this year."

Ruban hummed. "Any headway on the names Ashwin gave?" he asked at length, draining his coffee cup and rising to carry the dishes to the sink.

"Yes," said Simani grimly, her tone suggesting there was more to that statement than she was willing to divulge at the moment.

"Lots," said her husband enthusiastically, seemingly sharing none of his wife's reservations. "More than you'd ever believe possible. Dear lord, but these things have some serious blood on their hands. I'm surprised nobody made the connection before now. Everywhere any of them has gone in the past six centuries, it's been nothing but bloodshed and hellfire. Kudos to your grandma for noticing the pattern, Ashwin. She certainly did more than all of the IAW put together."

"What's that supposed to mean?" demanded Ruban.

"Raqaa, Reivaa, Kafeen, Saekaa and Sakeen," Simani listed calmly, rattling off the names Shwaan had given her and Ruban the day after their conversation at the Hunter Quarters.

Shwaan hadn't been lying, exactly, when he had said that he would have to call home to find out the names of the Aeriels still on earth who could cause flare blasts. He had been little more than a child when they'd been driven off the Mortal Realm, and he did not much remember who had fought on which side of the conflict. So after work that day he had left the flat to go meet 'friends in the city' – earning a death-glare from Ruban in the process; he supposed the man was still hung up on the Casia Washi incident – and winged it to Vaan. A short chat with his sister and a pleasant reunion with General Shehzaa and Minister Qwaan later, he had a list of names for the Hunters and a rather satisfying twinge in his woefully neglected wings.

He could've given them more, of course. Safaa could have given them the entire history of each one of those five Aeriels reaching back over millennia. But Shwaan didn't want to raise any more suspicion than was absolutely necessary, particularly since these days he could almost feel Ruban glaring a hole into his skull whenever he thought that Ashwin wasn't looking. It was as if he thought he could read Shwaan's mind if only he stared hard enough.

He supposed it was natural for the Hunter to be a little suspicious after everything that had happened; he wouldn't be very good at his job if he wasn't. Still, it put Shwaan on edge, the constant scrutiny, and he preferred to avoid that feeling when nobody was at an immediate risk of decapitation. And if the Hunters had to work a little harder for the information, well, he did feed them kebabs to make up for it. Shwaan considered his debt more than repaid.

Starting out of this pleasant reverie, Shwaan noticed that Simani was still talking. "They were all part of Tauheen's inner circle during the Rebellion, apparently. After it was over, they went underground for a few decades along with the Queen, when all the other Aeriels were fleeing to Vaan. At the time, many thought they had gone with the rest. Ashwin was right in that most of the more powerful Aeriels in Tauheen's court left earth after the Rebellion, so there were only a few left that could use fire-shells. They resurfaced again about three to four decades after the main exodus, but not together. Not at the same time and not in the same place."

Vikram was nodding vigorously. "I did some research on the five of them after Sim told me about your findings. Apparently, after the Rebellion, they spread out all over the planet, moving from one place to another and leaving a trail of blood wherever they went. Near as I can tell, they were sort of the generals of what remained of Tauheen's army, which wasn't much after the exodus. But still, their power was significant. And for the first few years they seemed to operate mostly as the Queen's assassins more than anything else, picking off the leaders or main actors of the Rebellion when they could, attacking the newly formed human governments. It was more petty revenge than any coherent plan of action, from what I could see of the records. The Aeriel named Raqaa was apparently the one who killed Founding Father Allahar Yan. Some of the records say she was Hunted down and killed by his bodyguards after the assassination but it isn't certain if that's true or not. She might still be alive."

Seeing Ruban's expression, Vikram laughed. "And I know it's a 'she' because apparently, people of the late Middle Ages were better at guessing the gender of Aeriels than modern society. All the records refer to her as female."

"Astime went on though, they became more ambitious," Simani said, continuing fromwhere her husband had left off. "At different points in time, they were eachinvolved in large scale terrorist attacks in almost every part of the world.Mass murders, assassinations, hostage situations, guerrilla attacks in Kanbarduring the Tribal Mutiny – there doesn't seem to be much they haven't done byway of mayhem creation. Of course, the records aren't perfect; they couldeasily have been involved in other things that we will never know about. All wereally have to go on is the documented use of flare blasts in any givenincident, which is sketchy at best. But still, the point is, these fivecollectively probably have a larger body count to their names than half therest of the Aeriel population combined."