Free Dragonfly: A Tale of the Counter-Earth at the Cosmic Antipodes by Raphael Ordoñez Page A

can. I doubt such crafts would be reliable in the desert, though. Wind storms are too frequent and too violent. No, I built a thing with wings like dragonfly wings.”
    “You mean a craft heavier than air?”
    “Yes, that’s right.”
    “And yet the Enochites tell us that’s impossible.” She took my hand. Hers were warm and delicate. “You begin to amaze me, Keftu.”
    My body thrilled with pleasure. I met her gaze. “Tell me of the one you came here to find,” I said.
    “Why?” She withdrew her hand and looked away. “Don’t get attached to me, Keftu.”
    “Please, I—I just want to know everything about you. Was he—is he—a good man?”
    Seila shrugged her shoulders. “He was a man. What does it matter what you say about people? He was a little like you, both wise and valiant. I suppose he reminded me of my father, who was also an engineer. He served a mad sun-prophet out there. He escaped here when he fell afoul of him. I don’t think he knew I loved him. I tried to follow him. I threw away everything to do that. Then I got here, and he was nowhere to be found. By that time there was nothing to go back to.”
    “If I ever saw him and knew him,” I said, “I…I feel I should kill him. For jealousy.”
    “You are a baby, aren’t you? Don’t you know what I do every day?”
    “That doesn’t matter to me. You’re forced to do it. Your heart isn’t in it.”
    “But what if I don’t mind it, either?” She touched my face. “Baby, baby,” she said, and kissed me. I put my arms around her. But she drew back. “No,” she said. “This isn’t right. I…I don’t want to be the bait that draws you deeper into the maze.”
    “Bait? What do you mean?” I took her hand. “What if I made it out of here, and was able to take you with me? Would you come?”
    She laughed bitterly. “You’re quite the optimist.”
    “They say it’s been done before.”
    “You mean the Misfit. His route is not for you. Take care how you fight the Cheiropt, Keftu. You’ll only bury yourself deeper. You’ll escape, only to find that there’s no you anymore at all.”
    “But would you?” I insisted. “Would you come?”
    She kissed me in answer. I knew it was a lying kiss. But my heart soared anyway.

12 Anakim

    It was five days after my encounter with the fish, about time for my next big fight. I was lying awake on my cot. I knew I needed to sleep, but I couldn’t. I was thinking about Seila.
    There was a scrabbling noise at my door. I rose and put my ear to the iron. The sound was coming from low down near the floor. I got on one knee and lifted the shutter where they slid me my food. The little person crawled in through it.
    She had brought me an offering this time. It was a bronze hand mirror made all of one piece, with a short handle and an ornate back discolored with verdigris. It looked ancient, but the polished front held a perfect image. The concave surface captured me and the cell behind me as though I were part of a diorama made of precious metal and stone.
    I set the mirror down on the cot. The girl-creature gave me a look, picked the mirror back up, and thrust it into my hand again. I set it down a second time and she did the same thing. She watched me to make sure I had gotten the point. Then she kissed the backs of my hands and went to the door. I lifted the shutter with my foot, and she vanished.
    Back in my cot, I thought about Seila again, making plans to escape, daydreaming. I had a vague idea of going to Narva with her, and—who knew?—perhaps returning to the desert one day to reestablish the House. Eventually I drifted off, but waking was so like dreaming in Hela that I hardly knew the difference.

    *          *          *          *          *

    I went to exercise as usual that night. I saw Granny on the way to the gymnasium. She came up and pinched my cheek. “Don’t tire yourself, my boy,” she said. “Today’s the fight that makes you or breaks you. I’m