Mindful to stay low enough to avoid detection, Aidan steered the glider away from the clearing. Soon he had a bird’s-eye view of the tangled forest, and within a few minutes, he was soaring over his favorite spot.
He dived into the deepest gorge of Pirate’s Canyon. Large curving rows and furrows in the earth showed trails of the giant sandworms moving below the surface. One wrong move and he’d be a meal for the miserable gluttons. And yet, part of him was mesmerized by the patterns. He took a chance and flew as close as he dared. What’s the point of having a Queen’s Guard glider if you’re not going to do a few stunts?
With barely a change in foot pressure, the sleek glider moved with his own actions. He wasn’t flying the machine, he was feeling it. The glider represented a perfect collaboration of material and energy. And the engine was so smooth and quiet!
The euphoric sense of freedom was staggering. He slipped around and around the massive earthen columns made from centuries of wind and rain. The tight turns and dizzying speed made his stomach fall and rise.
Rise and fall.
The sand stung Aidan’s face. He squinted tightly, then blinked several times, trying to clear his eyes.
What I’d give for a pair of goggles!
He dipped the nose of the machine down, putting it into a dropping spiral as he raced to the bottom of the canyon, relishing the wind in his hair.
He skimmed the surface, watching the patterns of sandworms. Then he noticed the bulge of sand in front of him. He held his breath as the meaty head of the eyeless sandworm launched out of the ground. With a victorious cry of escape, he pulled up at the last moment, just as a sandworm closed its jaws, snapping on the dust in his wake.
Aidan would never be able to achieve this velocity on his own sky dodger. There was a liberty to this moment he found addictive. He laughed out loud and immediately started to choke on a mouthful of sand. Harsh reality was always interrupting his best times. Then he thought of his best daydream.
Delta Kur.
A lifetime on a desert planet sounded perfect to him.
Live in the sun all day instead of scrounging out a life in the constant darkness of the surface?
Fine.
No insults to dodge?
Double fine.
And machines as far as the eye could see?
Even better.
Machines were less complicated than people. Machines might burn you or cut you if you didn’t know how to work them properly, but they never made you feel undeserving or worthless. In all the burns and gashes he’d had while fixing his sky dodger or digging through the picking station piles, there was never any shame in that pain.
Delta Kur used to invoke a lightness in his heart about the new life it represented for him. When he’d first learned about the one-way tickets available for any citizen, he applied secretly, but he wasn’t chosen.
Aidan wasn’t vain, but he knew he was physically and mentally more capable than half the people who lined up with him at the application station. All of them were in similar circumstances; loners, not necessarily looking for a new home, but to escape the lack of one.
The teasing and berating from his stepfather when he’d returned that night was so severe he was completely convinced he’d never be strong enough. He pushed the dream away, tamping it down hard, like the muddied back alleys of the Dark District. But eavesdropping on the palace staff as he gathered the food scraps for the rubbish, he discovered you could buy a ticket. In that moment, Aidan resurrected the dream he’d buried, and he started using the skills he had to escape Astor.
He didn’t always get a fair price from Griffin for the stolen trinkets, but his escape fund was steadily growing, and now he had the dagger. Surely that, coupled with the rest of the cash in the metal box, was enough for freedom.
Angling the glider out of the canyon, Aidan activated the hover mechanism and bobbed in the air. The twin suns were setting, creating a crimson band across the sky—the same color as the blood from the thief’s nose.
He pictured Princess Delia swooping in, brandishing her helmet as a weapon.
Princess Delia saved me!
Another bout of laughter rose, but Aidan kept his lips closed this time, fearing a mouthful of sand. Then the lingering amazement of the memory faded. Who would he tell? Who would believe him?
He thought of the boy, Tomas. How he’d grabbed a fistful of her braid at the nape of her neck. The rest of her hair had been tucked inside her pilot’s uniform. Her brown eyes were thick with terror. The knife was never near her throat—only her hair.
There was value in human hair. Some of the shops on the shadier end of the Dark District sold it illegally. The princess’s hair would fetch an astronomical amount. But there was something else, a foggy memory from his childhood, something about the royal family. He winced as the headache began to grow in the back of his skull. He’d been able to fight off the first one, probably because of all the adrenaline—meeting a princess in disguise tends to distract from pain, he reasoned.
But with only the sunsets for company, Aidan knew this one was going to be bad. He peered over the side and down into the gorge. One of the sandworms poked its massive head out of the ground, screaming a death warning.
He ventured back to the city as darkness began to fall. Mindful of vengeful pirates who might be hiding in wait, he felt a bubble of panic build in his chest. If he was caught, they’d take his most precious possession, his mother’s medallion, and then his life.
Aidan flew northeast, just skirting the edge of the tangled forest as the headache intensified. The throbbing worked its way from the back of his head to his temples. He would have to land soon or he’d crash, and well, what was the point of surviving this far into the most interesting day of his life only to end up dead in a crumpled heap?
Besides, he had to stay alive out of spite. He was certain no one would miss him or even come looking for him. And if they did, they’d probably pick the glider for parts and leave him there, thorny vines pushing up through his rib cage as the years went by.
A bitterness filled his mouth and heart. Tomas and his father were on their way to Delta Kur and a new life. The princess had granted passage to them so easily.
How stupid he was! Only at this moment did Aidan recognize that was his chance. He could have asked her to grant him the same grace.
The glider flew over the treetops, barely missing the two-foot-long thorns. A group of starlight bats momentarily blocked Aidan’s way as they took to the sky, spooked by his sudden presence in their home.
The memory of Tomas and his father clinging to each other brought a punch of something else that overshadowed the bitterness. Jealousy.
He blinked hard, denying the tears and rush of self-pity. He increased the speed, inching his foot lower on the controls. Leaning into the turns, he saw the edge of the Dark District take form.
The glowing tracks of the suspended plasma trains zigzagged closer. He dropped speed and cruised just above a slick alleyway. He brought the smooth machine down, carefully tucking it in between two narrow buildings. No one would ever come looking this close to the picking stations for a Queen’s Guard glider.
The headache was really threatening now. But Aidan only had to make it another block and he’d be all right. He turned the corner and focused on the sign ahead. It groaned on its rusty hinges. Although the lights were dimmed, the outline of Griffin’s bony shoulders could be seen, hunched over his workbench.