Chapter Forty-One
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Syaoran asked, as King's Landing docked in the shipyard. Hundreds of people strolled down the metal steps leading off the spherical sky-ship, all chattering with the enthusiasm of tourists. "There's so many people. How are we supposed to get into the engine room?"
"Patience, Syaoran. You see that blue sign out there?"
He nodded, realizing he could see every tiny letter of the distant sign. "It's a maintenance building."
"Yes. So we disguise ourselves as maintenance workers, make our way to the engine room, and slip out with the feather before anyone notices."
Syaoran frowned. Seishirou's plan was simple, but also immoral. They would be disguising themselves to steal the power source of a very large aircraft, with the intention of fleeing the country almost immediately afterward. If that wasn't worthy of prison time in this country, he didn't know what was.
Whatever it takes, he told himself. I have to have something to go back to the others with. If they even think I'm still alive . . . "Let's go."
Seishirou nodded and walked nonchalantly across the parking lot. Dozens of people passed them, most of them fresh from the sky-ship. No one seemed to notice anything strange about them, despite the odd clothes they wore. Maybe they think we're just ordinary tourists, Syaoran thought, trying to keep his expression calm. The easiest way to draw attention to oneself was to act guilty.
They reached the maintenance building without incident. With practiced movements, Seishirou pulled two twisted pieces of metal from his pocket and picked the lock. It took him less time than it would've taken a normal person to find the right key and unlock the door.
Syaoran made a mental note to ask his teacher about that later.
Once inside, they weaved through shelves upon shelves of tools, spare parts, and little inventions he couldn't identify. They circled around the main part of the store and ducked through a door labeled "employees only." It's a good thing I can read so many different languages, Syaoran thought. That's one thing the Other did to help me.
He realized he was differentiating again, and looked down. I suppose that's true, though. The Other had to learn the languages of many different countries when he was traveling with Father, and it's helping me now. That's something, at least.
They descended down a flight of metal stairs. At the bottom, they found several brown suits similar to those he'd seen on some of the men working on King's Landing. They donned those over their regular clothes, then hurried back up the stairs and out the door they'd come in. No one noticed them.
Once they were outside, Seishirou pointed to a spot where a collection of maintenance workers were patching up the ship. "We'll go in through there. Keep your head down and act like you belong."
Syaoran nodded. He didn't have to be told how to act. Wherever we happen to go, people are always the same on the most basic level. The reactions, the suspicion, the variances in trust and caution . . . People everywhere react the same way to certain stimuli.
They walked up to the cluster of workers, and Syaoran saw that the section they were working on opened up right into the heart of the engine room. It almost seemed too easy. Maybe there'll be guards, he thought, resisting the urge to look around. Seishirou had told him to keep his head down, just like any other worker.
"This way," his teacher murmured, too soft to carry to the human's ears. They continued through the lighted passage, ambling along at a frustratingly slow pace. Keep calm. A few minutes isn't going to make a difference. We'll still get the feather.
The smell of iron was strong within the ship, but not as appetizing as blood might've been. There are other metals here. Aluminum. That must be why the sky-ship is light enough to fly. It's made of alloys.
"It's this way," Seishirou said, turning as the corridors intersected. Syaoran followed, eyes narrowing as the lights grew brighter. The magic in him trembled, and he wondered if his vampire senses were making him more perceptive to the feather's oscillating waves of energy, or if being unable to rely on Mokona had allowed him to take notice of it. Either way, he could feel the waves getting stronger as he drew near.
Noises issued forth from the engine room, loud enough against his eardrums to cause him physical pain. I really hope this goes away, he thought, trudging on. Once inside, he saw the cause of the noises. The engines were all still running, pistons moving up and down in their rapid rhythm, steam shooting out of relief valves, gears turning against each other with rapid clicks. At the center of it all was the high-pitched vibration of energy moving from Sakura's feather to the rest of the ship.
"It's this easy?"
Seishirou nodded. "You've been following the path of most resistance for a while now. Doesn't it make sense that something should happen to turn out easy?"
He shrugged. "I guess."
Seishirou stepped forward, moving faster now that he was out of sight of the workers. Before he reached the metal pedestal on which the feather sat, he encountered an electrified barrier. Stunned by the jolt, Seishirou recoiled, almost falling on his back.
Knew it couldn't be that easy, Syaoran thought, trying not to feel smug. "They set up an electric barrier to stop anyone from stealing the feather."
"You don't seem surprised."
He shook his head. "No. We saw something similar in Koryo, except with magic instead of electricity."
Seishirou sighed. "It looks like we're going to have to think of something clever if we want to steal it."
Syaoran glanced around the room, trying to judge from the position of the invisible barrier how they could interrupt the flow of electricity. He noticed six small antenna-like structures sticking up out of the floor in a hexagon around the feather. I bet if we destroy just one of those, the whole circuit will break. But how to do that without drawing too much attention to ourselves? He frowned, then turned to his teacher. "I think those little towers are what's holding up the barrier. If we take out any one of them, the circuit should break."
"Ah, very clever. How shall we go about that?"
He shrugged. "How much noise do you think we can make in here before someone comes running?"
"Thinking about using your magic?"
He nodded. "I don't want to risk touching the pillars if they're electrically charged." With a grimace, he recalled the stun guns in Piffle World. He didn't want to experience that for himself if there was any way to avoid it.
"Probably wise. Go ahead. You should work on your magic anyway."
"Right." Syaoran took his stance, breathing deeply through his nose now that the risk of running into humans was low. Energy rushed up around him, pulsing through his muscles like a heartbeat. It concentrated in his forearm, crackling around his skin. "Raitei Shourai!"
The spell exploded from his fingertips, striking the nearest pillar. Shadows writhed and jumped in the room as his magical lightning melted the device, and the thunder was so loud in the confined space that, for a moment, he thought he'd gone deaf from hearing it.
When the spell abated, he found himself staring at a twisted lump of metal. "That'll do it."
Seishirou moved with supernatural speed toward the feather, this time unimpeded by the invisible barrier. "Let's go. I'm sure someone heard that."
Syaoran could hear pounding of feet approaching from the corridors. "Will we have to fight them?"
"Not unless they're a threat."
They moved through the bowels of the ship, faster than Syaoran had ever dreamed he could run. In the last world they'd been to, their supernatural speed had been impeded by rough terrain and inexperience. Here, running across flat, solid ground, they made much better time.
"We have to get back to Fuuma," Seishirou told him. "We're past the four hour mark. His disease is likely starting to spread again."
Syaoran didn't argue, merely focusing on avoiding two maintenance workers who'd come to see what the crash had been. When the men saw their speed, they threw themselves against the walls in panic.
I guess they don't have vampires in Avantine, he thought as they reached the end of the corridor. Sunlight poured into his eyes, and the commotion they'd seen in the King's Landing doubled as shouts of alarm took over the area. Security guards with stun guns came at them from all sides. Damn it.
"Looks like we're in for a fight, after all," Seishirou mused.
Syaoran shied away from the buzzing stun guns and let his claws come out.