Storm Dreams (The Cycle of Somnium Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

asked.
    “I don’t like not knowing where I am.”
    Brewster smiled. “Not that it will give you any idea of location, but we’ve been flying through various dreams ever since picking you up and we’ll be leaving soon. The Armada is pretty thick here, so we only risk entering the Everdream to rescue pilots.”
    “Everdream? The Armada? You keep saying that.”
    “Everdream’s a long story. The Armada is made up of dreams, kind of like us. Police,” Brewster said, pocketing a handful of shells for himself. “Those of us who escape aren’t well liked by the powers that be in the Everdream. Don’t worry,” he said, noticing Cassidy’s worried look. “They can only do so much where we’re going.”
    When they entered the control room Franz and Jayce stood staring out the bow windows. Cassidy took in the room better now that he was well-slept and relaxed. Aluminium girders ran downward from the airship’s belly, past the floor and continued, he assumed, until they met somewhere below his feet. Brass pipes wove between girders in all directions, making the ceiling look like a mass of metallic vines.
    The helm itself was a large wheel, almost three feet in diameter, which stood in the centre of the bridge. It looked as if it had actually been taken from some Spanish galleon, its surface decorated with gold trim, its wood stained and polished. Below the helm lay two foot pedals. Jayce explained that Karl had installed them to eliminate the need for a second helm to steer the elevator flap. Banner hadn’t liked the idea of needing a second pilot in the rear of the control room—as most Zeppelins had—preferring to steer port and starboard with the wheel and pitch the ship up and down with the pedals.
    Cassidy had never seen anything like it, though fragmented memories of Zeppelins lodged in the recesses of his mind. Remembering things made him feel more there and he found himself taking every opportunity to drag things out into his consciousness. There had to be more. Dream, or no dream, he had to have a past.
    The sky turned a desperate shade of blue and then purple as Banner nosed the craft down out of the clouds. Thick cumulous mounds tore as the ship ripped through them. “The Twilight,” Banner said over his shoulder. “Beautiful, isn’t it?”
    “This isn’t a dream?” Cassidy asked Brewster as the ship levelled out.
    “No,” Brewster said, leaning in as if confiding a secret. “This is between the Everdream and the real world.”
    An odd shape, like an upside-down floating mountain, broke out of the distance, half obscured by a patch of thick clouds. “Arcadia,” Banner said, as he throttled the ship forwards. “It’s a good place for repairs.” He glanced over at the German. “Franz, tell Karl I want some kind of gun platform up top. I’m tired of us getting caught with our pants down.” He glanced back. “Cassidy, you stink. Get a shower and have Brewster find you something nice to wear. You can’t get laid like that.”

Chapter 3
     
    Cassidy wanted to stay at the windows, but Brewster took him astern to the head and let him freshen up. Cassidy shaved, splashed on cologne and donned the clothes set out for him: khaki breeches, a white shirt, an airman’s coat and a new white scarf. All this he did as fast as possible, retrieved the Mauser from his room and hooked the wooden holster to his belt as he ran for the control room. He wanted to go anywhere but this ship which had begun feeling more like a cage.
    Arcadia turned out to be exactly what it had looked like at a distance: a floating island nestled deep within a mass of thick nebulous clouds. Closer up, however, he could see that the upside-down mountain was topped with smaller snow-capped mountains and a city that looked like a cross between a mythic metropolis of the future and a turn of the century shipping port.
    At least forty airships drifted around the island; some docked, some coming into port and others leaving. Some were