A Flight of Broken Wings: Aeriel Trilogy #1

Chapter 96

"–And then they were all on fire, all three of them, before they just...fell out of the air, I suppose. They fell into the forest, and if there was anything left of them before that, well, the forest-fire took care of the rest. It was like a blazing abyss below us – I could barely believe we had survived it ourselves." Ruban exhaled, sitting back in his chair. It felt good to finally talk about it, to simply say the whole thing out loud to someone who would not doubt his sanity for saying the things he did. He had no idea what Dawad thought of his story, but at least he believed him, even understood his dilemma, or at least part of it anyway.

"The way I see it, Ruban," Dawad said from his seat across the table, taking a gentle sip of his tea. "You should be thankful for the whole thing. You got all that you wanted, did you not? Hiya is alive and safe, as are you, and four Aeriels dead, all of it credited to you. I must confess I fail to see the reason for your agitation."

"Don't play games with me prof. Not now. You know exactly what's bothering me. He killed four Aeriels – four of his own kind – and for what? He had no reason for it but to save us, to save a couple of humans. And this wasn't the first time he'd done something like that either. He did the same thing at Ghorib, though I couldn't tell you that at the time.

"Why would an Aeriel do that, do any of it? What could he possibly have had to gain by saving us? What is he doing here anyway, pretending to be a Zainian delegate? From what I've observed so far, he seems to be working at cross-purposes with Tauheen. But why? Why would an Aeriel defy its queen? I didn't even know that was possible. And how the hell do we come into this convoluted fucking picture? Help me out here, prof. You know more about this stuff than anybody else I could think of. What am I missing here? Because from where I am standing, none of this makes any kind of sense."

Dawad's green eyes twinkled, the laugh-lines around them crinkling his ebony skin. "That's a lot of questions, my dear boy. Let me answer them with a question of my own. Had it been a human, instead of an Aeriel, that had kidnapped Hiya, had threatened her life, what would you have done to them?"

"I'd shoot the son of a bitch, of course."

"And yet you cannot fathom why an Aeriel would attack its own kind under the same circumstances?"

Ruban stifled a groan of frustration. "Stop talking in circles, prof. You know that analogy doesn't mean a thing. Aeriels aren't...people. They don't feel things like human beings. You're trying to tell me an Aeriel turned on its own kind just because it couldn't stand to see a human child being murdered? I suppose the next thing you'll say is that the creature has finally rediscovered its hidden maternal instincts and is ready to let go of its evil ways all for the love of a human kid."

Dawad sighed, setting his empty cup softly down on the table. Belatedly, Ruban reached for his own tea. It had gone cold.

"If you are raised in a prison, my boy, you will grow up thinking all men are criminals. That does not mean that that is the truth, however. Not everything that seems apparent is really so."

Ruban glared at his old teacher. "Was that supposed to convey some profound philosophical truth? Because if it was, I've got to tell you prof, you're not very good at this."

Dawad laughed, a deep, rumbling sound of unsuppressed mirth. "As impatient as ever, aren't we? I see you haven't changed much since the days you roamed the halls of this hallowed institution spreading havoc and mayhem."

"To be fair, most of that was courtesy of Simani and her gang of psychopaths. They just dragged me along for the kicks most of the time."

"As you say," Dawad agreed easily enough, pouring himself another cup of tea. "Let me ask you this, Ruban. Six hundred years ago, humanity rebelled against the Aeriels, defeated them and drove them from the earth and into Vaan. Well, most of them, anyway. A few of the stubborn ones stayed behind, and have been causing trouble for us humans ever since – mostly with acts of terrorism and sporadic violence, though these do sometimes escalate into more coordinated battles between the races. Although there hasn't been a proper pitched battle between humans and Aeriels in almost a century – mostly due to the technological advancements achieved by humanity in that time – there has been a noticeable uptick in terrorist attacks in recent years, especially the last couple of decades."

Ruban nodded. He didn't know what else he was expected to do. None of what Dawad had just said constituted a question, and most of it was general knowledge. He just hoped the old man was actually leading somewhere useful with all of this. But then, for all that Dawad could be convoluted, Ruban had never known the man to be pointless. That thought, if nothing else, kept him in his chair as Dawad took his time finishing off his second cup of tea.

"Sosix hundred years ago – in a war that spanned the globe but culminated righthere in the city of Ragah, which then housed the Aeriel monarchy – the humanrace defeated their Aeriel rulers and freed the planet of their tyranny. Freed the planet of a race a hundred timesstronger and faster and more resilient than themselves. An immortal race ofgodlike beings that could absorb and manipulate the energy of the sun itself.Now ask yourself, Ruban. How exactly did we manage a thing like that?"