Marked for Death

Chapter 35

Kandler looked to Burch. “What’s your best guess?”

The shifter leaned over the nearest railing and gazed down at the terrain below. Although it was rock and hard-packed dirt near the chasm and mist-shrouded tower, beyond the sickly-looking grass sprouted again, and the soil was a bit softer.

“Trail’s clear,” the shifter said. “From here, I can see where horses trampled grass. They were moving fast.”

Kandler whispered something to Esprл, and the girl brought the ship back around until it was headed back toward the mound of mist.

“What happened?” Kandler asked.

Burch stared down over the railing and tried to decipher the signs scattered on the ground below.

“The changeling bolted that way,” the shifter said, pointing to the northeast. “Then the knights followed.” He stared off to the left and right. “They were posted all around tower, but they chased her together.” He jabbed his finger to the northeast again. “Into the hills.”

“That’s the way the changeling was headed before,” Kandler said.

“You’re going after them, aren’t you?” Sallah demanded as she rushed back from the bow. “We can’t just leave them out there.”

Kandler smiled. “What kind of rogues do you take us for?”

Sallah narrowed her eyes at the justicar. “The kind that might turn around as soon as they got what they came for.” She glanced at Esprл, still standing at the wheel. The girl blushed.

“That’s a good point,” Kandler said as he looked down at Esprл. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” He reached out and put an arm around his daughter.

“You can’t be serious,” the lady knight said. “Without them you never would have gotten this far. You never would have rescued her.”

“Maybe,” Burch said. The others turned to look at him. “But I’m interested in something else.”

Sallah sneered at the shifter. “Getting home safe to the town that threw you in prison?”

Burch smiled at the knight, showing all his sharp teeth. “No,” he said. “I want that changeling’s head on my wall.”

“No!” Esprл blurted, taking her hands from the wheel. The ship bobbled in the air for a moment as if it had hit a rock. Esprл grabbed the wheel again, and the ship straightened out. “You don’t have to do that,” she said to Burch once she was back in control. “Not for me.”

Kandler wrinkled his brow at his Esprл. “This lady kidnapped you. She used you as a hostage. She could have killed you.”

“But she didn’t,” said Esprл. “She wouldn’t have. She saved me from those vampires.”

Kandler put a hand on the girl’s shoulder. “She saved you for herself, I think.”

“I know,” said Esprл softly, “but you don’t have to kill her, do you? Not for me.”

Kandler sighed then kissed the girl atop her golden locks.

“But you have to go after her!” Sallah said. “You can’t let her get away.”

“I thought you wanted to save your friends,” Burch said.

Sallah snarled in frustration at the shifter. “They were going after her. You find her, and you find them.”

Kandler smiled. He hadn’t thought the knight could be that bloodthirsty, and he was happy his instincts had proved right. “Good. Then we’re headed in the right direction. Right, Burch?”

The shifter nodded. “Straight over that ridge, then follow the hollow.”

“Don’t worry, ladies,” Kandler said. “We’ll find your knights,” he said to Sallah, then he turned to Esprл, “and we’ll leave your friend alone, assuming the knights don’t get to her first.”

Esprл let go of the ship’s wheel with one hand and hugged Kandler tight.

The ship scudded through the sky. Sallah watched the mists swirling overhead for a while then gazed out at the landscape below, marveling at the grace with which they moved. Under Burch’s guidance, Esprл kept the ship low, only a few score feet above the crests of the hills. Each time the shifter signaled her, she reined the ship back from its top speed to give him time to spot the changes in the trail.

Sallah walked back to the bridge and put a hand on Kandler’s arm. He winced. “How are you?” she asked.

“I’ve been better.”

The lady knight looked at him. “Is it your shoulder? You wrenched it when you fell, didn’t you?”

Kandler started to say something then shut his mouth and just nodded.

“I can help,” Sallah said tentatively.

“You or the Silver Flame? Healing magic doesn’t work well in the Mournland,” Kandler said, rubbing his shoulder. “It won’t even heal on its own until we get out of here.”

“What I’m offering isn’t magic,” Sallah said. “The chosen knights of the Silver Flame have their own kind of power. As you saw with Brendis, it seems to work here.”

“This must be my lucky day.”

Sallah stepped back. She wasn’t used to having anyone talk to her like this. Her fellow knights always treated her with respect, especially since Jaela Daran, the Keeper of the Flame, a girl not much older than Esprл, had called out her name in the course of the prophecy concerning the Mark of Death. Since then, they had been almost deferential. She liked the fact that someone would treat her more like an equal, but she bristled at Kandler’s obvious distrust of all things holy.

“Would you like my help or not?” Sallah asked, letting the exasperation show in her voice.

Kandler flexed his shoulder and winced again. He pushed it toward her and nodded.

With Kandler’s permission, Sallah slipped her hands up the sleeve of his shirt until she reached his shoulder. She offered up a short prayer to the Silver Flame that ended with, “May the light of your kindness shine on this heathen. Amen.”

Kandler drew in a breath to protest, but he stopped when Sallah’s hands warmed up and a soft glow arose under his shirt. The warmth moved from Sallah’s hands into his shoulder. As it washed away, she knew it took the hurt with it.

“How’s that?” asked Sallah.

Kandler flexed his shoulder again. “My thanks,” he said.

As the ship rounded a bend in the hollow, Burch held up his hand and called out, “Hold it!”

Esprл hauled the ship back until it stood hovering in the air. “What is it?” she asked.

Sallah followed Kandler as he ran forward to peer around Burch at the ground. Below, she could see the signs of a fight. A few pieces of armor lay scattered about the place, and the grass was all torn up.

“What happened here?” Sallah asked Burch, not at all sure she wanted to hear the answer.

“A big fight,” the shifter answered.

“I think we can see that much,” Kandler said. “What’s all that armor doing down there?”

“That’s not armor,” the shifter said as he looked closer. “Those are pieces of warforged. They must have come from three soldiers, at least.”

“Canyou tell anything else?” Sallah asked.

Burch shook his head. “Hard to say from up here.” He motioned for Esprл to bring the ship lower.

“Keep going,” Burch said. At the last moment, he held up his hand to stop. “Good!”

The ship bumped against the ground. “Close enough?” Esprл asked, blushing.

“By the Silver Flame,” Sallah said, “be careful!”

“It’s just a bump,” the justicar said. “It’s not easy to control this beast.”

Sallah turned and pointed to the ring of fire surrounding the ship. She understood that Kandler wished to protect his daughter, but this was too important to tiptoe around.

“You see that?” she said to Kandler.

“It’s hard to miss.”

“That’s an elemental creature of fire,” she said. “The dragon-marked shipwrights who created this craft bound it into this ring with powerful magic. Just look at the carvings along the retaining arch.” Sallah paused to calm herself down and to let her words sink in. “Break that arch, and you let loose the elemental. It might not be too happy about being bound up all that time. It might decide to take it out on the child behind the wheel.”

“Or the mouthy lady in the armor,” Burch said. “Point taken.” He signaled Esprл to bring the ship up a bit. The ship lurched upward into the sky and hovered a few feet over the ground.

Sallah scowled at the shifter, but before she could respond, Kandler tapped her on the shoulder and pointed down the length the ship’s rail. “There’s a rope ladder there,” he said. “Let’s take a look.”

The two scrambled down the ladder and onto the hill. Kandler scanned the crest while Sallah strode down into the hollow.

“The warforged must have started out here,” Kandler said loud enough for Sallah to hear over the crackling of the fiery ring. “I’d guess they ambushed the knights when they rode into that hollow.”

Sallah bent over and ran her hand along some of the stunted, gray grass. Then she stood and held it up. Crimson stained her fingers.

“They’re not here anymore,” Kandler said. “Who do you think won?”

Burch looked down at Sallah from the ship and said, “War-forged. No doubt.”

The knight shook her head. “If that’s so, where are the bodies?”

“What’s that over there?” Burch said, pointing down to a fold in the hollow. “Something shiny.”

Sallah hissed and launched herself up the hillside, uttering a silent prayer to the Silver Flame as she went. Kandler dashed along the crest of the hill and beat the lady knight to the spot. He knelt down reverently before the things Burch had seen from the ship. As Sallah reached him, he turned to let her see what they were.

“Their swords,” Sallah said, horrified as she looked down at the sacred blades of her fellow knights. “No knight would ever willingly give up his sword to a foe. They must be dead.”