Marked for Death

Chapter 38

The moment the justicar, the shifter, and that lady knight left the airship, Te’oma saw her chance. She’d spotted the airship scudding across the gray Mournland sky toward her soon after it entered the air over the hills north of the crazed wizard’s tower, and she’d hidden under some low brush until the thing sailed by.

So far, this had turned out to be a lucky day for Te’oma. First, the old elf wizard had rid her of Tan Du. He’d been a useful ally in the Mournland, but entirely too unstable. One more mishap on their mission, and Te’oma knew she’d have been the vampire’s next meal. Then the justicar and the lady knight arrived at the tower and provided her with cover for her escape. And when racing away from the other knights, she’d spotted the warforged patrol before they found her. Dismounting and sending Te’oma’s horse on alone to gallop past the patrol had been a stroke of genius. It left the changeling without a mount, but it alerted the patrol to the presence of the knights in time for them to form a hasty ambush.

Once the knights had all been captured, Te’oma had been at a loss for what to do. Without Esprл, she had failed at her mission, so going home was out of the question. In any case, without a mount she faced a long, hard walk out of the Mourn-land. More than one traveler had stepped into the mists around the borders of the place never to be seen again.

Then she spotted the airship. She didn’t know who was driving it, but she decided against hailing the captain and pleading for a ride. Using her mental powers, she projected her senses aboard the ship’s deck for a look around. Once she saw Esprл and Kandler behind the wheel, she knew her instincts had been good.

The ship moved slow but with purpose. Te’oma guessed that the people aboard were hunting for the other knights. Once the ship had passed overhead, she followed, trying to stay as close as possible without being seen. This soon proved impossible, but no one ever looked back to see her sprinting after the ship, racing up and down the hillsides as she worked to keep them in sight.

When the ship came to a stop, Te’oma crept up the side of the hill and peered over the edge. She watched and listened as the adults threw the rope ladder down and disembarked from the airship. She waited for them to disappear over the crest of the next hill before she stood up.

The changeling padded down into the hollow in which the airship was nestled and then up the other side to where the end of the rope ladder had been. When she got there, she morphed her form until she looked something like one of the Knights of the Silver Flame that had chased her out here-the young one with the blond hair. Her clothes wouldn’t change, but she’d just have to deal with that.

Te’oma peeked over the edge of the hill to make sure that Kandler and the others were long gone, then she whistled up to the ship’s deck. “Hello?” she called. “Anyone there?”

The changeling had to call out three times before Esprл poked her nose over the ship’s railing.

“What do you want?” she said.

“Thank the Flame you’re there!” said Te’oma. “I just ran into your father, and he sent me back here. They’re off to rescue the others.”

“Why aren’t you?”

The changeling patted her leg. “They cut me pretty good. I can’t move well enough for a fight. I barely made it here.”

“Why are you dressed like that? What happened to your armor?”

“Warforged took it,” said Te’oma. “They’d already killed the changeling, so I took her clothes.”

The girl chewed on her lip for a moment, thinking all this over.

“What do you want?” Esprл asked. Te’oma could hear the suspicion in the girl’s voice.

The changeling gazed up at the girl as innocently as she could. “Could you throw down a ladder? I think I could make it up. Once I get on the ship, I should be all right.”

Esprл narrowed her eyes at the knight standing below. “What’s the password?” she said.

Te’oma had heard Kandler’s parting words to the girl. The psion thought she remembered the name of Esprл’s mother from when she’d scanned the girl’s mind before, but she did it once more to be safe.

“Esprina,” the changeling said.

Esprл frowned, thought a moment more, then finally picked up the rope ladder and unfurled it over the railing. It landed right before the changeling’s feet.

Te’oma climbed up the ladder and bounded aboard the airship. She gazed all around and took it in. “What an amazing craft!” she said. “I’ve never been on anything like it.”

“What’s your name?” Esprл asked.

“Mardak,” the changeling said as she pulled up the ladder behind her.

The girl’s jaw dropped.

“Wait,” Te’oma said. “That’s not right, is it?” She looked at Esprл. “It’s, um, Levritt.”

Esprл screamed.

Te’oma snatched up the girl in her arms and clamped a hand over her mouth. Esprл kicked and thrashed about like a beast in a net. Te’oma reached out with her mind and tapped the girl’s brain hard. She fell limp in the changeling’s hands.

Te’oma lay the girl down on the deck and said to her. “Don’t make this harder than it has to be. I can keep doing that all day if you like.”

Esprл blinked and sat up. She looked at the changeling, still in the form of a blond knight, and said, “It’s you again, isn’t it?”

The changeling smiled at the girl. “You just can’t get rid of me, can you?”

Esprл stuck out her bottom lip. “Am I your hostage again?”

Te’oma shifted back to her normal form as she reached out and tousled Esprл’s hair. “Let’s just say we’re going for a ride together.”

“What about Kandler and Burch and the knights?”

“They’re not invited. This trip is just you and me.” The changeling glanced around at the airship, at the ring of fire that encircled it. “At least we’ll be traveling in style.”

Esprл drew in a breath to scream, and Te’oma put a single finger over the girl’s mouth. “Ah-ah-ah,” the changeling said. “None of that. Play nice now, or I’ll tap your brain again. We have many miles ahead of us, and screaming for help every chance you get will grow tiresome very fast.” The changeling stared into Esprл’s sky-blue eyes. “If I take my hand from your mouth, do you promise not to scream?”

The girl hesitated for a moment before she nodded. Te’oma removed her hand.

“Now,” the changeling said. “How do you operate this thing?”

Esprл shrugged. “They didn’t tell me. Kandler barely lets me drive a wagon around Mardakine.”

Te’oma curled her lip at the girl. “Yet they left you here all alone?”

“They knew there could be fighting where they went.”

The changeling shook her head in disbelief. “I suppose,” she said. “I wouldn’t have left you here.”

Esprл cocked her head at Te’oma. “What would you have done?”

“Left those other knights to rot. They’re doomed as it is. No reason to put your heads on the block next to them.”

“You’d leave your friends to die?”

“I don’t have any friends.” As the words left her lips, Te’oma realized they were true. She felt a pang of regret at this, but she shoved it aside.

“What about the vampires?” Esprл pressed.

“What about them?”

“Weren’t they your friends?”

Te’oma laughed. The girl’s ability to surprise her was delightful. “Vampires don’t have friends. Not among the living.”

“Are you alive?”

Te’oma goggled at the girl. “I’m a changeling not a zombie. I breathe. I bleed the same as you.”

Esprл thought about that for a moment. “I’ve never met a changeling before.”

“Maybe you have and didn’t know it.”

“I doubt it.”

“What about Gum?”

Esprл’s eyes grew as large as a pair of moons. “The baker? That couldn’t be!”

Te’oma smirked. “Think whatever you like. You’ll never know now, will you?”

The girl considered this for a moment before she spoke. “He never kidnapped me,” she said.

“We’re not all so talented.”

“Esprл!” a voice called out from below.

Te’oma dropped to one knee and swung the girl around in front of her, a hand clamped over her mouth. “Vol’s black blood!” she said. “It’s that shifter.”

Te’oma knew she could take no chances, so she stunned the girl with her mind again. When she let her go, Esprл stood there quietly, her mouth slack and her eyes blank.

“Esprл\ toss down the ladder!” Burch said. “We got big trouble and no time!”

Te’oma whispered into the girl’s ear as she reached into her mind and mentally wiped the last several minutes from her brain. “As far as you’re concerned, I was never here,” she said softly, “but I’ll be seeing you soon.”

With that, the changeling padded off to a hatchway and slipped down into the hold below the main deck. She didn’t like letting the shifter back onboard, but she knew she couldn’t fly the airship by herself. Better to stowaway and get a free ride out of the Mournland than to have to walk out alone.