Chapter Four ~ Metal Wings

It was like a sea of black ink. That was what it looked like to Elle. The water was dark and deep, with no land insight, and the sky was a never-ending void of darkness. The human girl was curled up in a ball on a small mound of sand. A part of her knew she was dreaming, but she couldn't wake up. Ella stared blankly at the inky water for a moment before it was disrupted by something. The young human sat up, watching large bubbles rise to the surface, followed by what could only be a giant whale tail struggling to break through the water.

"Well, isn't this a cheerful place," a female voice said, startling Ella to her feet. The girl spun around with a bewildered look as she said

"What are you doing here!!" It was the first thing that Ella could think to say. Isis crossed her arms, glaring down at the human

"You called out to me; I have no choice but to answer, it doesn't matter where or when" Isis replied

"Get out of my dream!!" Ella shouted. The goddess leaned back a little, uncrossed her arms, but keeping one hand on her chest.

"What a rude little nuisance you are, first you call out, then you yell at me to leave!" the goddess sneered before turning her head away. Ella let out a little growl

"What does that even mean!? How do I even call out to you?" the human huffed, but the alea refused to look at her or say another word. Ella crossed her arms and turned around to face the dark sea once more. "If the sword can call out to the dead and make them appear...why won't he come!?" Ella said shortly, "I rather see dad than you." Isis let out an annoyed sigh.

"Our father forged the sword, it's magic is as ancient as he is, and it calls out to us and us alone," the goddess said, "it is apart of our being, your father was not a God." Ella furred her brow and whispered softly

"He should have been." Her head bowed a little before slowly sitting down, holding her knees as she did so. For a long moment, the only sound was the struggling splashes coming from off in the distance, caused by the whale's tail.

"Why don't you give yourself pleasant dreams" Ella heard the goddess asked. Ella had thought that maybe she had finally left and was surprised when she listened to the voice. The young human sighed,

"It's… not that unpleasant, I don't mind it all that much," Ella said softly "sometimes I see dad," she added with a mumble. There came a pause, then Isis turned around and walked next to the human girl, kneeling down and not looking at the girl as she spoke.

"I'm only giving you this advice so you would stop summoning me at random," the goddess siad. "The blade is connected to its owner; one's emotional state will affect how it will act. You are unconsciously calling out for us to help. You need to learn not to rely on us to solve every little problem you have" then, Isis added, "we are here to offer advice, not the solution." Ella chewed her inner cheek, trying to put the pieces together.

"So, you are like … the advisor's advisor," the human said, a slight smile playing at her lips. For a moment, Ella thought she heard the alea-goddess snicker before it was quickly stifled. Suddenly, Ella felt her wrist grabbed.

"Wake up human," Isis said horsley, the girl was about to turn her head to face the other, to ask what was wrong. But Isis yelled before Ella could say anything. "Wake up!"

Ella's dagger was already in her hand as she lurched forward, swiping at something in the dark. Someone gasped, then something fell to the ground with a thud. The humans' eyes tried to adjust to the dark as she heard the sound of running and the flap being pushed away harshly. The suddenness of it all had Ella's head spinning as she scrambled form her sleeping bag, "Hey! Wait!" she called out, stumbling a little as her foot tripped over something on the ground. Ella knelt, feeling the object; her eyes widened when she realized it was her sword. Someone had tried to steal it. Ella turned her head, about to tell Lotus to wake up; when she realized the pellie's cot was empty. The young human shook her head, swinging her blade onto her back and running from the tent. Ella planned to get to the bottom of this.

The earth was soft from the heavy rain earlier that night. The clouds were still there, heavy in the sky above, refusing to allow some moonlight to slip through and illuminate the ground. But Ella made sure to give her eyes enough time to try and adjust. The camp was quiet, save for a few whispers of the night watchman. Ella searched in vain to find the would-be-thief, but she had lost them. The blonde stopped running for a moment, ending up near that large wooden wagon. Ella panted softly before looking up at the sky as she heard a sound. Off in the distance, there came a low, mournful cry. She recognized it: The Cloud Maker. It took until now for Ella to put the pieces together; the whale calf in the forest, then the other sky whale appearing and destroying everything in sight. "You were his mother," Ella thought sadly, listening to the sky whale crying out into the night sky for a few more minutes. After a while, a familiar whistle broke the girl's concentration. Ella turned her head, and on instinct, walked towards the wooden cart. "Who are you?" the young human asked, crossing her arms after stopping a foot away from the cart.

"Keep your voice down, or else the guard will hear you," a voice whispered back, Ella wasn't expecting an answer, but before she could respond the voice from behind the wooden panels spoke again. "That's the sword of Altus...the last person who had that was Fenric, how do you have it?"

"He was my dad," Ella said, she was beginning to feel awkward telling people about her family.

"You aren't a pellie," the voice said in a confused tone. The young human sighed, rubbing the back of her head before saying

"I'm adopted" The voice on the other side was quiet for a moment, then spoke up again

"If he gave you the sword, then that means you aren't with them," the voice said. Ella tilted her head, scrunching her face up.

"What do you mean?" the human asked, unknowingly talking a little louder than the stranger wanted because the voice quickly shushed her.

"I hear someone coming," Ella could hear it too, footsteps against the mushy ground. "In the morning, go to the far west side of the camp, we can meet there," the voice said quickly as the footsteps grew louder.

"Wait, what's your name?" Ella asked as she looked around in the dark, trying to figure out where the footsteps were coming from.

"I'm Cleite" the voice answered, Ella, tilted her head with a smile

"My name is Ella," the blonde said, quickly turning around so she could avoid getting caught. But no sooner had she turned around another voice called out to her. One that sounded, very annoyed.

"What are you doing?" Lotus asked, lifting a lantern as Ella froze, then slowly turned around. The young human took a beat, gripping the sheath strap and scowling at the pellie-girl.

"I could ask you the same thing! Someone was in the tent and tried to steal my sword!" Ella said, watching Lotus as she placed an empty hand on her hip

"And what, you think it was me?" Lotus sneered, the blonde sneered back

"Well, you weren't in the tent." The pellie girl straightened up, starting to walk past Ella

"What? Now I have to tell you every single time I need to relieve myself? We aren't friends, Ella; I don't need to tell you anything!" Lotus huffed, the young human stood still for a moment, then started to follow the other. Ella could feel her face burning as she mumbled a soft 'sorry.' After a moment of unbearable silences, Ella spoke up

"Marée and her brother seem to really trust you, do you know what they are here in the first place?" she asked, Lotus didn't respond at first, but after taking a breath, she looked back

"I do, but I'm not going to tell you."

"Well, can you at least tell me how you got here?"

"They asked for someone to represent Sullan, they needed someone to help them with the locals so I volunteered"

"I would have thought you dad would have," Ella said, scrunching her nose up in confusion

"He would have...if the house didn't cave in on him," Lotus responds bluntly, with a hint of a quiver in her voice. Ella nearly stops walking when she heard that.

"Lotus, I'm sorry...I-I didn't know-" but the human was quickly cut off

"Save your pity; I don't want it, he's not dead. He's being looked after here" The pellie girl snapped, glaring at Ella. The blonde frowned slightly.

"Then why not pick someone else," Ella asked. Lotus let out a sigh

"Do you ever stop talking?"

"I just want to know!"

"Fine!" Lotus sneered, stopping in her tracks and turning around so the two were face to face "when no one else will step up, then you have to!" Lous half yelled, "no one else was going to help my people," then the pellie scoffed "as if someone like you would understand that." Lotus gave Ella a harsh stare before turning her back and finishing the journey to the tent. Ella stayed silent, trailing behind the pellie. The young human entered the tent last, Lotus already on her side and in her bed: her back was facing Ella. The blonde took a deep sigh, crawling onto her sleeping bag, holding her sword close to her chest, and slowly she returned to sleep.

~~~

After the second loud cry causing the sky to rumble, Ella finally sat up from her sleeping bag. Eyes still closed and hair going every which way while she let out mumble of nonsense. Ella rubbed her eyes and rested her hand onto the sword; the girl sighed with relief. Getting to her feet, the human realized that the tent was once aging empty; Lotus was gone. "Where do you keep disappearing to?" Ella asked herself. The sky shook again when Ella poked her head out from the tent, just as a human guard walked by. "Excuse me, is that the cloud maker causing that noise?" Ella asked. The guard stopped, looking at her for a moment then up at the dark cloudy sky.

"Yes, miss, it has been hovering very close by...I suspect it has been causing the storm as well," the guard said, Ella gave them a small nod and watched them walk away. The human stepped out from her tent a few minutes later, tightening the strap of the sword on her back. Not quite sure what she was to do now, Ella decided to try and find the far west side of the camp; after all, she wanted to know what that stranger was talking about from the night before. The camp was more extensive than Ella initially believed. After a while of wandering around, the human noticed something that looked promising and a little odd. It looked like a blacksmith shop only on a much bigger scale, with several large kilns. Ella heard the sound of metal being pounded before she could smell molten mineral. She scrunched her nose up and coughed. The girl also noticed that guards densely populated on this side of the camp. "Has to be for looking after the metals" she thought, watching as a group of people lifted a sheet of copper.

"Ella," a voice called out from behind her, and the blonde spun around to see Orage and Lotus walking towards her; Lotus holding a large sack, which she instantly tossed to Ella, who caught it just in time. "It's all done, Orage and a few of his men will take you to Trust," Lotus said, in her usual blunt kind of way, though she didn't meet Ella's gaze.

"Oh...thats awesome, when do we leave?" Ella asked

"Right now," Orage said, whistling with his fingers to summon a few guards.

"Now!!" Ella gasped, dropping the sack, which landed with a thud. Orage gave a nod, before pointing to the sky

"It's going to storm again, it's best we get moving now before we are hit with the worst of it," the pellie-man said. Ella began to nibble on her lip. Now she could finally get to Altusi, but at the same time, she was dying to know what Cleite was talking about.

"That's ... Uhm that is great to hear!" Ella began, taking a few steps back, "But I. .. Uhm...I think I forgot something back at the tent, so I'll be right back!" and before anyone could protest, Ella quickly sprinted away; however, she promptly made a u-turn along her path and went straight for the blacksmith like camp.

Ella looked around; this close up, she could see that some of the workers were Alae, which was a rare sight considering that they were rare to see, to begin with. Ella looked around for any hints on who this "Cleite" was. She even tried to ask a few workers if they knew anyone by that name, but they rudely brushed her aside. Ella soon stopped walking and stood at one of the tents. "Now what?" she thought, just then someone grabbed her hand and pulled her into the tent. Ella let out a surprised cry, suddenly coming face to face to an alae-boy.

"Hi Ella!" he said playfully, all Ella could respond with was

"You were the one that kept whistling at me!" the alae-boy chuckled, lifting a chain that held a rose-gold whistle.

"Pretty neat, huh? We use them in the mines, so we don't get lost, who knew it could have other uses! Here, hold this for me!" he said, shoving a hefty backpack into Ella's arms. She nearly dropped it due to its weight.

"Wh-what is in this thing!?" the human gasped, struggling to get a good hold on it. The alae, whom Ella finally realized to be Cleite, looked at her after picking up a wrench and kneeling next to a cover machine. Cleite began to loosen something as he talked.

"Those are my wings."

"Alae's don't have wings."

"And humans aren't born from pellies...and yet-" Cleite pulled something from the machine, glancing at Ella with a playful smile, "here we are!" Ella's face went a little red. She looked away for a moment as she set the backpack down. "Of course, they are technically a glider, still haven't found a way to make them flap yet," the alae-boy said, pulling a pair of goggles down from his head to get a better look at the gear he had removed.

"And I told you I'm adopted-" Ella stopped herself, taking a breath "look, Cleite, I don't have a lot of time, I have to leave for Trust right now so-"

"Leave?! You can't leave!" Cleite suddenly yelled, pulling his goggles up quickly and giving Ella a wide-eyed stare. "You have to help us," he added, standing and walking back over to Ella.

"Help us? What-"

"What are you doing!" Lotus yelled out, pulling back the flaps and stepping into the tent. Ella and Cleite both jumped and turned around to face the pellie-girl; like two children getting caught by their parents. Before Ella had time to explain, Lotus was hit square in the face with a wrench, and she crumbled to the ground. The human froze, then slowly looked over at Cleite, whose arm was still outstretched from the throw.

"What did you do that for?!" Ella asked, trying her best to hide a certain giddy feeling. Cleite blinked, pulling his arm back as he stared at the pellie on the ground, almost as if he hadn't realized what he had done.

"I-I just panicked…" he said. Ella looked back down at Lotus before crouching next to her. She was hesitant for a moment, then, she reached over and shook the pellie-girls shoulder. Ella was trying to see if she was responsive. Lotus let out a groan, slowly rising from the ground with a hand on her forehead.

"Are you okay?" Ella asked, leaning back a little as Lotus began to move. But pellie had no interest in the blonde next to her. Instead, her eyes were fiercely locked on to the alae-boy before her.

"You are so dead, bird-brain," Lotus growled, shoving Ella away and getting to her feet. Unhooking her trident from her back, she rushed Cleite. The human girl let out a yelp as she stumbled, hitting her head against one of the cover machinery. Ella winced, holding the back of her head. As for the other two, Lotus was chasing Cleite around the tent. The boy spun around and grabbed hold of the trident's handle. Trying to pull it out of Lotus's grip but the pellie-girl managed to kick Cleite's feet out from under him. Bring both of them to the ground.

"Let go of me; you glorified goldfish!" Cleite spat, doing his best to shover Lotus away, while the latter managed to grab hold of one of his ears, causing the alae-boy to cry out in pain. Ella slowly recovered from her own fall, taking a sudden intake of air as she felt a sting on her skin. Narrowing her eyes, she noticed a cut on her upper arm, slowly glancing up to see a large spear tip, with a few specks of red staining it. It was poking through the fabric that was covering the object Ella was leaning on. Ignoring the scuffle in front of her for a moment, the blonde stood up and pulled the cloth away. Ella's eyes widened, and she had to take a few steps back. It was a harpoon-like canon.

"Cleite, what is this doing here?" Ella asked, turning back to face the two, but it seemed her question fell on deaf ears as Lotus and Cleite continued to fight, the trident had long been tossed to aside. The human sighed, placing a hand on her hip "Lotus, can you stop fighting for just a second" again, no response. Cleite managed to kick Lotus in the stomach, the peillie grunted and stumbled back. It did not end the scuffle, though, because right after the kick, Lotus through a punch. Ella frowned, taking a step forward, "guys! Come on!" she snapped, the two ignored her like before. "Okay, fine!" Ella thought bitterly, reaching behind her back, she unsheathed the sword and swung it. The blade hit the metal parts of the harpoon, causing a loud ringing sound, which made everyone fall silent. Lotus and Cleite looked over at Ella, who pointed with her sword at the machine. "What is this doing here?" she asked, her voice sounding a little horse. Cleite blinked, pulling away from the pellie before speaking.

"We made it for them; we made all of these," he said, gesturing to the other covered objects.

"What does that mean?" Ella asked, tilting her head. Cleite took a beat, holding onto his whistle, fidgeting with it for a moment

"That's why I wanted to talk to you... I'm from this mining town at the base of one of the Helbire mountains, one day those pellie twins came through and said the council needed volunteers for weapon-making" as Cleite talked, he pulled the cover off another object, this time a giant cannon. "After a while, things got weird...we built enough weapons to supply a full army and then some, but they wouldn't let us go home, they kept making us build things while they moved around. I thought since you have that sword you could conceive them to let us go home"

"Why?" Ella asked, walking over to the cannon and touching it slightly

"Ask the pellie, she's with them, isn't she?" the alae-boy said with a scowl, pointing over to the sheepish looking Lotus. She was holding her arm and refusing to look at anyone. Ella tilted her head, and Lotus gave a small glance.

"Lotus, what do you know?" the human asked. The pellie remained quiet, "Lotus! you know something, you have to tell us!" Ella said, taking a step towards the other.

"Why should I?" Lotus scoffed softly, still refusing to look up at the human. Ella scowled, gripping the handle on her sword before suddenly yelling

"Because that cloud maker was shot down by harpoons and cannons," she then gestured to the inside of the tent "and look at what is all around us!" she added.

"J-just because they have this stuff doesn't mean they are responsible" Lotus quickly shot back, causing Ella to hold her forehead, letting out a loud groan. Cleite had remained quiet through all of this. He seemed to have shrunk back a little. His face drained of any color with a permit look of disbelief. "Look," Lotus said, nibbling on her lip "they just told me that the council wanted them to go out and have weapons made."

"And that's it?" Ella asked, raising an eyebrow as she talked. Lotus finally looked up at her, taking on a deep breath before nodding. Ella bit her inner cheek, closing her eyes for a moment, then opening them back up. "But why? Don't you think it's weird that they aren't heading back the way they came? Sullan is nowhere near the council city, and why won't they let Cleite and the rest of his town go back home?" the human asked.

"There's something else we are building for the twins," Cleite piped up softly, making the two look over at him. "It's like a cannon but not the kind for a ship; judging by the blueprints they gave us, some kind of crystal is going to power it."

"What kind of crystal can do that?" Lotus asked, placing a hand on her hip. But Cletie could only offer a shrug in response. Ella, however, was lost in thought, glancing down at the sword still in her hand, she caught a glimpse of her reflection. Just then, the alae pulled her from her thoughts.

"Ella? Did I help make something that killed a sky whale?" Cleite asked. Ella looked at him and saw such a pain-filled look in his eyes. The human sighed, giving the other a wary smile before giving the boy a gentle pat on the shoulder.

"None of you could have known, it seems that Marée and Orage have been keeping secrets from all of us," Ella mused, looking back and forth at the two.

"We still don't have proof they are behind the dead sky whale," Lotus said in an annoyed voice. Ella hung her head for a second, taking in a deep breath.

"Lotus, for once, please just trust me," Ella said, looking straight at the pellie, "I know what I saw". Lotus looked Ella dead in the eyes, before uncrossing her arms.

"Alright, fine…" she said, her once stern expression seems to soften a little, "but now what? What can we do to stop this?" she asked. Ella once again began to chew on her inner cheek, glancing at Cleite for a moment, then answered Lotus's question.

"Altusi can wait, we need to tell the workers what the weapons they made were used for...then, try and get them out of this camp," Ella said, though she sounded a little unsure.

"And how exactly are a bunch of adults going to take a human girl like you seriously?" Lotus asked, a smug look crossing over her face. This time, it was Cleite's turn to speak. He gave off a cheerful laugh, hanging one arm around Ella.

"Uhm, I'm not sure if you noticed, but Ella has the sword of Altus, AND her dad was the most prominent pellie in all of Asteryn," he said with his own smug smile. Ella gave out a nervous chuckle

"Yeah, I'll use some of my dad's charm! Should be easy!" the human girl said. Lotus frowned, before pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Oh, we are so screwed…"