The Queen of Death

26

As Ledenstrae s tower loomed larger, Sallah pulled back on the airship’s speed. They would be there in a matter of seconds, but then what?

“How is Te’oma?” she shouted out over the rushing winds and the crackling of the Phoenix’s ring of elemental fire.

“She will be fine,” Xalt called back. “I put out the fire in her wings, and Monja should have her healed up soon.”

“Fantastic!” Sallah said. “Hold on to something tight.”

“Why is that?” Xalt said, standing up, confused.

Sallah tore a gauntleted hand free from the ship’s wheel and pointed at the tower toward which they were headed. She could see the balcony right there, the one from which Ledenstrae had come when she, Burch, and Kandler had visited him. The trellises and arbors that covered the area hid the occupants from view—if there were any.

Sallah wondered if they’d gone to all this trouble for nothing. Perhaps Kandler and Esprë had managed to work things out amicably with Ledenstrae. Maybe Duro had sacrificed himself for nothing. Maybe they weren’t coming to the rescue but had made a horrible mistake.

Every instinct in her, though, told her that they had no time to lose. Then she remembered something.

“Bring Te’oma here!” she said.

Without even a nod, Xalt knelt next to the changeling to carry out Sallah’s order. He slipped his arms underneath her, ignoring Monja’s protests.

“She’s not healed yet,” the halfling said. “I need more time.”

“Sallah needs her now,” Xalt said, standing up and hefting Te’oma in his arms. The changeling clutched at him, her back arching in pain.

“I know what she wants,” Te’oma said, her voice a weak rasp as Xalt clambered up on to the bridge with the changeling in his arms. “Tell her that we have to go in now. Otherwise, they will all die.”

Xalt looked to the knight.

“I heard her,” Sallah said. “Grab one of those safety straps on the console or the rail. We’re going in!”

Majeeda stared at Esprë, then threw back her wizened head, and laughed.

“Such bravery can only be found in the young,” Majeeda said. “Why would you think I would care about your father’s fate?”

Esprë nearly let loose her grip on Ledenstrae’s arm.

“Do you imagine your powers might work on me, little one?” Majeeda asked. “Perhaps you should give them a try. Perhaps that’s not the Mark of Death you carry after all. You might be able to harm me.”

Majeeda leered at the girl, and Esprë saw the barely repressed madness dancing in the ancient elf’s eyes.

“On the other hand,” the deathless wizard said, “you might not.”

Esprë paid no attention to that last bit. She had another voice in her head, demanding a different answer from her altogether.

Are you hurt? Te’oma asked.

“Majeeda is here,” Esprë said out loud. “She’s frozen Kandler and Burch with her magic, and she plans to kill us all. Gome help now!”

Majeeda narrowed her eyes at the girl. “To whom are you talking?” She glanced toward the only entrance into the balcony, but no one was there.

Ledenstrae groaned in fear and pain, and Esprë felt his clammy sweat growing beneath her palms. Something had to happen here soon, or she would end up killing him for sure. She feared if she let him go she would lose the last bit of leverage she had against Majeeda.

Threatening her father’s life hadn’t seemed to shake the wizard much, but it was the only thing that Esprë had. She considered telling Majeeda that she would throw herself off the balcony if she didn’t let Kandler and Burch go, but that would only give the wizard what she wanted.

“If Ledenstrae dies,” she said to Majeeda, “your dreams of going home die along with him.”

Majeeda stiffened at these words, and the mirth fled from her face. Esprë twisted herself around behind her father, putting his tortured form between herself and the wizard. As she did, she allowed herself a vicious grin.

“Who’s going to introduce you to the Undying Court if he’s gone?” Esprë said. “Who could even bring you back to Aerenal? Without his help, you’ll have to go back to the safety of your tower in the Mournland. Isn’t that right? You’ll have to stay there, trapped again, forever.”

“You don’t know of what you speak,” Majeeda said, her voice like the hiss of a cornered snake. “I am going back to Aerenal to become a member of the Undying Court. I am!” Esprë smiled at the desperation she could hear in Majeeda’s voice. She knew she had pierced the deathless elf’s armor of serenity. Now she just had to drive her point home.

She let loose of her father’s arm for a moment. He screamed out in terror and pain.

“Esprë! ” he said. “You cannot kill me. I am your father! ” “The fact I’m your daughter didn’t mean much to you,” Esprë said. Her words bore more bitterness than she had realized she felt. She tightened her grip on him again.

“No! Please!”

Esprë averted her eyes from her father and stared at Majeeda instead. “Let them go,” she said.

“I should kill you myself,” the wizard said. “I could destroy you where you stand.”

“You would have done it already,” Esprë said, hoping she was right. “Quit wasting my time. Let them go, or he dies!” “All right!” Majeeda said, panic filling her voice. She closed her eyes for a moment and muttered something. As she did, Kandler and Burch staggered forward from where they were and took deep, grateful breaths.

“Hear that?” Burch said, jerking his head in the direction of the vertical shaft that let out into the room beyond. “Guards on ropes. Be here in a second.”

“The airship is—”

Something large smacked into the building and cut Esprë off. The balcony shook, and the sound of a raging fire filled the air. The screening structures around the outside of the balcony began to collapse, some simply falling to pieces while others went up in flames.

Kandler reached out and grabbed Esprë around the waist. “I think our ride is here,” he said as he carried her toward the low wall around the balcony and hefted her into the air.

Esprë saw the broadside of the Phoenix appear in a gap in the screens. Xalt stood there, his arms extended toward them, ready to pull them in. “Jump!” he said.

Kandler swung Esprë up and out, and she found herself sailing through the air, across the gap between the airship and the building. Xalt caught her in his strong, hard arms and fell backward to the deck, absorbing her fall.

“Bring her back!” Ledenstrae shouted. “Without her, we’re all doomed!”

While Esprë still flew to the Phoenix, Kandler brought his sword around and slashed at the elf. Ledenstrae flinched away and cowered on the floor.

Kandler hesitated for a moment. As much as he disliked Ledenstrae, he had no desire to execute an unarmed foe who seemed to think curling up like a baby offered some sort of defense. Then he heard an angry voice start to speak from the far corner of the room.

Majeeda was chanting.

A crossbow twanged to Kandler’s right, and a bolt appeared in Majeeda’s throat. The feathered end of the missile jutted out from her withered flesh, but no blood flowed from the wound. Still, she clutched at it as if in mortal pain.

Kandler strode to the elf and raised his sword. While Ledenstrae posed little threat at the moment, Majeeda had only been checked for a moment by the bolt. As soon as she could remove it and regain her voice, she would help the elves of Aerie track them down. She had some kind of tie to the airship that only her death could sever, and Kandler meant to solve that problem in the most direct way.

As the justicar charged, he heard a strangled cry behind him. He ignored it for the moment and swung his sword in a flat, level arc that connected with devastating force.

Majeeda’s head sprang free from her shoulders, almost as if it had been waiting for a chance to do so. Her body collapsed to the cold, stone floor, her bones rattling loosely in her papery skin.

A trio of elf guards clambered out of the vertical shaft and into the room beyond the balcony. Getting into a fight with them would only cost Kandler time, but he guessed he’d already spent more of it than he had to spare. Rather than challenge the guards, he turned and raced toward the balcony’s edge.

As Kandler sprinted for daylight, he had to bound over Ledenstrae. The elf lay in a widening pool of his own blood, a crossbow bolt sticking out of his chest. In one hand, he clutched a throwing dagger by the point.

Ledenstrae swept a feeble hand at Kandler, but his grasp had no strength to it and fell uselessly away. The justicar ignored it and vaulted over the balcony’s railing to the deck of the airship beyond.

He rolled with the landing and sprang to his feet, his sword still in his hand. As he rose, he snapped his head toward the bridge and saw Sallah standing at the wheel. He drew a great breath to shout, “Go!”

Before the word left his lips, the Phoenix shot forward like a ballista bolt, pulling Kandler from his feet.