Wishing Wings — Susan Laine

Sequel to Lofty Dreams of Earthbound Men
Isleshire Chronicles: Book Two

Two weeks after their encounter with a ripper, engineering sage Jules Sterling and Earth mage Obadai Bashim are surprised to learn Aelfric Fairburn, a bureaucrat from the Divine Theocracy, has arrived in County Isleshire to reward Jules for his courageous defeat of the ripper.

Fairburn's visit couldn't come at a worse time, as Jules is in the field-testing phase of his dream project -- flying. But the Virtuist Church of the Spirit Gods views man's pursuit of flight as heresy and a contemptuous abomination of the ultimate ambition of the faithful -- ascension.

But Fairburn's judgment is the least of Jules's problems. While he struggles to work out the kinks of his flying apparatus, a mysterious figure operates behind the scenes toward an unknown end. Once again, Jules and Obadai face a lethal foe.