The Unwilling Aviator (Book 4) Read Online Free PDF Page A

for miles, and the eastern part abutted the bases of the cliffs and there were niches carved into the hillsides that looked like balconies. The buildings on the western end were twenty yards away from the cliffs and the space was littered with fallen rocks. Wide, dusty streets ran north to south the grid-like blocks with alleys running east to west, though the eastern portion of the city devolved into a mangled mess of small squares surrounded by rundown buildings. The buildings rarely stood more than one story tall, but they made up for the lack of height in width and depth. The houses encompassed a great deal of square footage, and the largest ones occupied an entire city block.
    There was a single large, domed building that occupied much of the northwestern corner of the city and towered over its shorter neighboring structures. The building was made of a white marble that glistened in the sun and columns held up the covered front entrance. The roof of the front half of the building dazzled their eyes with its glass dome. Everyone unfamiliar with the city guessed that was the Senex of which Ned had spoke.
    What caught their attention, however, were the crowds of people who thronged the streets. Large crates stacked like steps littered the streets, and people stood on the boxes or sat on the edges of the roofs with their legs dangling over the sides. The spectators congregated in open doorways and some even stood on the top of the western cliffs. What they all had in common was their heads were tilted backwards. Some held large pieces of glass to their faces, and others talked amongst themselves and pointed upward.
    Ruth followed their gazes upward and her eyes lit up. She pointed her hand at the sky. "Look!"
    Her companions looked up and saw colorful triangular shapes floating in the sky along the eastern cliffs. The triangles drifted through the air and swooped above and below each other. The party witnessed one of the kites dive close to another and the higher kite was pulled down. It wobbled, tipped over, and fell from the sky. The crowd gasped and some in the audience screamed. The kite headed toward the crowd, but at the last moment pulled up and landed on a rooftop.
    Ned smiled and clapped his hands. "An admirable landing," he applauded.
    "What madness is this?" Pat asked him.
    "The madness of the aviators," Ned replied. He gestured to the triangles still in the air. "Each of those holds an aviator. Their aim is to pull down their opponents by cutting the line of their competitors and causing them to lose their guiding rope and fall to the ground."
    Canto scoffed. "If humans were meant to fly they would all be castors," he quipped.
    "These normal humans have made up for that deficiency with a flying contraption," Ned replied.
    "And they set themselves in the air in an attempt to kill each other?" Percy wondered.
    Ned chuckled. "The sport of commoners, and the spectator-sport of kings."
    "We have more important matters to discuss than flying fools," Pat interrupted them. She swept her arm over the city. "How are we to find the stone in those crowds?"
    "And the treasure," Canto reminded them. "We don't know where that's hidden, either."
    "Did the castors perhaps hide the treasure with a friendly group?" Percy asked Ned.
    Ned shook his head. "None that I'm aware of, but we could perhaps use one of the machines to propel ourselves above the city for a look."
    "I would rather use Ruth." Pat turned to Ruth who sat behind her, but found the girl's attention was still on the skies. "Ruth?" She received no response. "Ruth!"
    Ruth jerked back and whipped her head to Pat. "I'm sorry. What were you saying?"
    Pat sighed. "Come nightfall we need you to fly over the city to find the stone," she told her friend.
    Ruth smiled and nodded her head. "I would be glad to help."
    "Now that that's decided, what do we do while we wait for night?" Percy wondered.
    "We find lodgings. It may take Ruth more than a day to search such a large city,"