Marked for Death

Chapter 34

Kandler grabbed Sallah by the arm and kicked at the stone windowsill with all his might. Already damaged by the ship, the sill gave way. Sallah fell into Kandler’s arms as the ship lurched toward the mist-shrouded sky. The two fell to the deck in a tangle of arms and legs.

“Stop!” Majeeda said. “I command you to stop! You must stop!”

The deathless elf screeched something unintelligible at the people on the ship, and each of them froze in place, unable to move a muscle. Kandler found himself lying underneath Sallah’s armored form, incapable of doing more than breathe at her. He couldn’t even blink.

The airship kept rising.

“No!” Majeeda shouted at the ship from below. “Don’t leave me here alone! You can’t!”

No one on the ship replied. Kandler had a lot of things he wanted to say to the insane wizard, but his tongue refused to move.

“Damn you all to Khyber then!” Majeeda said. “If you won’t stay, then you can all die!”

Kandler heard the wizard chanting again, and then something came crackling at them from below.

A scorching explosion shook the entire ship, tossing it up and to port as if a whale had hit it from below. Kandler and Sallah tumbled across the deck toward the railing. They smashed into it hard, unable to brace themselves for the impact.

The ship pushed higher into the mist, faster than ever. As she righted herself, Kandler realized he was lying on top of Sallah at an awkward angle that threatened to break his wrist under her armored form.

The dark, cloying mist became thinner and lighter as the ship rose higher. Far below now, Majeeda screeched out in anguish. “Don’t leave me!” she said. “Please!”

The ship broke through the darkness of the mist and into the dimness of the Mournland’s overcast sky. After so long in Majeeda’s domain, even this weak light hurt Kandler’s eyes. He winced, and in so doing realized he could move his eyes.

Kandler rolled off of Sallah, who scrambled away. He cast about for Esprл and spotted her several feet down the railing, rubbing her head. He dashed over to her and snatched her up in his arms.

Esprл wailed in fear as Kandler held her. “It’s all right,” he said to her, most of his body aching as he patted her on the back. Her sobs slowed as he spoke. “We’re safe now.”

“Don’t be so sure about that,” Sallah said. “I smell smoke.”

Kandler pointed up at the circle of fire that encircled the airship like a ring on a finger. “There’s fire all around here,” he said.

“Fire below, boss!” Burch called from the bridge. Kandler saw the shifter was leaning over the port side of the ship and looking at the hull.

Kandler dashed to the rail and stared downward. Flames billowed from the bottom of the ship.

The justicar sprinted up to the bridge, Esprл still in his arms. Burch already had his hands on the wheel.

“We have to bring her down,” Kandler said.

“We’re still going up,” Burch pointed out. “We have to stop that first.”

The shifter handed the wheel to Kandler. He put Esprл down and grasped the wheel in both hands. He reached out with his mind and felt the elemental out there, just like before. This time, though, the creature wanted nothing to do with him. It liked flying straight into the sky, away from Majeeda and her tower, and it wasn’t going to stop no matter how much Kandler might want it to.

Kandler tried again and again, but it was no good. “We’re in trouble,” he said to Burch. “How high are we?”

The shifter leaned over the back railing and looked down. “Fatally,” he said.

Kandler let go of the wheel and scanned the bridge, hunting for something, anything that would help. “Maybe we can toss a mooring line overboard,” he said.

“There’s nothing for it to catch on,” Sallah said as she joined them oh the bridge.

“We can’t just go up forever,” Kandler said, striving to keep the panic from his voice. “It has to stop sometime.”

“Says who?” Sallah asked.

As the knight spoke, the ship stopped rising so fast that Kandler was almost lifted from the deck. Startled, he spun around to see Esprл holding the wheel. “How?” The justicar knelt down next to his stepdaughter and placed a hand on her shoulder. “How did you do that?” he asked.

Esprл beamed down at him sweetly, reminding Kandler of her mother. “You just have to ask nicely,” she said.

Kandler tried to keep from laughing, but failed. Sallah joined in, and Esprл too. It was Burch who brought them back to earth.

“We’re still burning!” the shifter shouted.

“Good point,” Kandler said. He stood up behind Esprл and put his hands over hers on the ship’s wheel. “We need to land this thing fast.”

“Where?” asked Sallah.

Kandler scanned the land all around. There were no ponds, rivers, or even a stream in Majeeda’s valley. To the north, a series of low hills rolled away.

“Head over there,” Kandler said to Esprл. “We need to smother the flames. If we can skim the top of one of those hills we might be able to snuff the fire in the grass.”

“Or crash,” Burch said. He ran off to the bow of the ship to play scout. Sallah moved down to the main deck after him.

“Just give it a try,” Kandler said to Esprл. He knew they didn’t have much time, but scaring the girl would just cause her to freeze up. He needed her to be calm now, so he kept his voice modulated and cool.

“Too fast!” Burch called back.

Kandler looked out at the ground and saw it speeding toward the ship. “Take us back a little,” he said to Esprл. The ship’s nose yanked upward.

“Whoa!” Esprл said. Her voice was steadier than Kandler would have guessed. After a moment, he realized she was enjoying this.

“Easy,” Burch called back.

Kandler leaned over and pointed out a place that he thought they might be able to land, right along the crest of the first hill.

“This is fun!” Esprл said as she aimed for it.

Kandler smiled at her. The wind blowing in her long blonde hair reminded him of her mother again-her mother, the sorcerer. It seemed Esprл had inherited some of Esprina’s talents. He leaned over and gave her a small kiss on her on the cheek.

“You’re doing great,” he said. “Take it easy. I’m right here with you.”

Sober again, Esprл looked up at Kandler and nodded.

Kandler looked down and saw the ends of a leather belt hanging from around the wheel. He grabbed them and fastened them around both he and his daughter, then attached them to the wheel’s post. He called for Burch and Sallah to join them.

The shifter came bounding up with a big grin for Esprл. “Nice work, pup,” he said. He and Sallah found a set of leather straps mounted in the bridge railing and wound their wrists into them.

The hillcrest came rushing up at the ship. Kandler looked down at Esprл and saw her concentrating with all her might as she jutted out her chin and chewed on her lower lip. “Slow down just a bit,” he said quietly. “Just take it in right there.” He arced his hand as if it were the ship angling along the hill’s crest.

“We have all the time in the world,” Kandler said. It was a bad lie, and he knew that Esprл wasn’t fooled, but he hoped it calmed her nerves all the same.

The ship hit the hilltop hard. Had Kandler and Esprл not been wearing the wheel’s belt, they would have been thrown from the bridge. As it was, Kandler struggled to hold them both in place, his injuries screaming in protest.

“Hard to port!” Kandler said. “Left!”

Esprл almost jumped from between his arms, but the ship swung hard to port and ran the burning part of her hull against the hillside. She scraped along, the boards of her shell groaning in protest.

“Bring it up now,” Kandler said. The ship came off the hill and righted itself.

“Report!” the justicar said to the shifter.

Burch let go of the straps and peered over the side of the ship. “That did it!” he said. “The fire’s out!”

Kandler sighed with relief and he felt Esprл sink back into his arms. He hugged her tight, then said, “Bring her up just a bit.” The ship nosed higher into the sky.

Kandler undid the belt around himself and Esprл, then reattached it around the girl. Sallah removed her hands from the straps she’d used and came over to Esprл with a wide, proud smile.

“Where to now?” said Burch, who was scanning the countryside below. “I don’t see the changeling anywhere.”

“Sir Deothen!” said Sallah, as if ashamed the thought had just struck her. “We have to go back for them and the others.”

Esprл nodded and brought the ship around to point south again. Under Kandler’s direction, she headed for the south end of Majeeda’s valley but gave the mists surrounding her tower a healthy berth, keeping them always to the starboard.

Kandler marveled at the airship’s speed as she flew toward the other side of the valley, the heat blasting from the back end of the fiery ring pushing them along. Unhampered by the drag of the ocean’s waves, it moved faster than any seagoing ship. It seemed like the finest horse would be hard pressed to keep up with her, even on a flat stretch of land. The way she sailed straight and smooth above the valley floor was unmatchable.

As the ship came up on the spot where Kandler and the others had left the knights behind, he frowned. “I don’t see them,” he said.

Sallah climbed down from the bridge and ran out to the tip of the ship’s stem. She leaned over the bow and peered out at the long southern slope and into the valley. She stood up and pointed down.

“That’s where we were,” she said. “They’re gone!”