The Queen of Death

37

“Boss,” Burch said, popping his head in through the open hatch. “Got dragons dead ahead.”

Kandler leaped out of the hammock in the hold in which he’d been trying to sleep. He’d not had much success. As they grew closer to Argonnessen, the idea of closing his eyes, even for a moment, seemed insane. Now, with the call to action finally being sounded, he breathed a sigh of relief.

The justicar clambered up onto the main deck and trotted after the shifter, who led him straight to the bow.

“Xalt spotted it a few minutes ago,” Burch said, pointing off toward the southeastern horizon. “Took me a while to figure out what they are.”

Kandler shaded his eyes and spied what the shifter meant for him to see instantly. Two winged shapes spiraled about in the cloudless sky. From their silhouettes, they seemed to be dragons, but from such a distance Kandler couldn’t be sure.

“Positive?” Kandler asked.

“About three quarters,” Burch said. “Either way, it’s trouble. If they’re not dragons, they’re still something we’re going to have to deal with. They’re right in our path.” “Can’t we just go around them?”

“It’s a big sky,” Sallah said, as she strolled up the deck behind them. “Trying to avoid them would add dozens of miles to our trip.”

Kandler met her eyes. She’d kept her distance from him ever since the Phoenix had left Khorvaire behind. He couldn’t help but think she blamed him for the fact that they were out here crossing the Dragonreach. He doubted she gave Esprë much credit for having her own mind.

He would have talked with her about it, but he’d wanted to do so privately. She’d always managed to find herself other company, though, and she’d pointedly refused to acknowledge his hints that he’d prefer to speak with her alone.

“I didn’t think you were that eager to reach Argonnessen,” he said to her.

She grimaced. “We are doomed to die on this fool’s quest. Where it happens does not matter much.”

“I never thought you to be so casual about your death.” Sallah shrugged. “Death by one dragon’s talons is just as good as another.”

“It’s all in the timing,” Burch said. “I prefer to put it off as long as possible.”

“Think there’s any chance they haven’t spotted us?” Kandler asked the shifter.

Burch pointedly looked up at the ring of fire that encircled the airship. “Doubt it.”

“The Phoenix is a wonderful craft,” Xalt said as he joined them, “but she is not subtle.”

Kandler stared off at the dragons. They already seemed to be coming closer. Sometimes they flew toward the airship, sometimes not, but they never went farther away. They didn’t seem to be in any hurry to reach the Phoenix, but Kandler supposed they had all the time in the world.

“You’re wondering if we can take them,” Sallah said, astonishment tainting her voice. “You’re insane.”

Kandler had to admit that the thought had crossed his mind—but not to her. Not now, at least.

“We need to speak with them somehow. We can’t assume every dragon we meet is a threat.”

Monja snorted. “What else can they be? Creatures that large, old, and cruel can crush the bunch of us and barely notice. They’re born threats.”

“That makes all of this utterly hopeless, doesn’t it?” asked Sallah. Kandler hoped that he didn’t hear a note of sour triumph in her voice.

“Does anyone here really think we have a chance of beating them, much less surviving this trip?” Te’oma said. “If we’re going to die, I vote for getting it over in a relatively painless way.”

“I don’t recall anyone asking for a vote on the matter,”

I

Sallah said.

“This is a dictatorship,” Kandler said, “not a democracy— and none of you is in charge.”

“And you are?” asked Te’oma.

Kandler shook his head. “Esprë’s the one in charge here,” he said. “It’s her fate were all wrapped up in. We should be taking her orders from here.”

“I agree,” said Sallah. The others nodded as well.

“So,” Kandler asked, “where is she?”

As one, the justicar and the others turned around to see Esprë, who stood alone at the wheel. She smiled at them and waved when she saw them, and they each gave her a half-hearted wave in return.

After a tense moment, Kandler strode off toward his stepdaughter. The others fell into line behind him, and soon all of them gathered on the bridge around the girl.

“What do you say?” Kandler asked Esprë. “Do we try to go around them or just head straight in?”

The girl stroked her chin for a moment. Kandler could see that, despite the horrible danger they might soon be in, she enjoyed this: the attention, the power, the fact that people not only asked her questions but hung waiting for the answers. Then something terrible dawned on her, and she pointed off toward the dragons.

“I don’t think it’s our choice anymore,” she said. “Look.”

Kandler turned about to do just that, and he saw that the dragons had gotten much larger. Worse yet, they had given up on the pretense that they hadn’t yet seen the airship. They were headed straight for her.

The creatures closed with the Phoenix with terrifying speed. Kandler supposed that if they and the airship raced toward each other it would add their speeds together, a dizzying prospect for sure. He could hardly imagine what might happen to either the airship or the dragons if they collided at such speeds. That was enough, though, for him to start formulating a plan for pulling off just that if need be.

As the dragons drew closer, they moved from beneath the shadow of a cloud. A brilliant beam of sunlight glinted off their steely scales and splashed across their widespread wings, transforming them from darkened silhouettes into crimson-painted monsters of the mightiest kind.

Each beat of their wings brought them closer and revealed them to be larger and larger. At first, Kandler had thought they couldn’t be larger than Nithkorrh. As they neared, though, he saw that they were two different sizes, and the bigger one dwarfed the black dragon they’d fought over the Ironroot Mountains.

Kandler’s jaw dropped as he realized just how humongous these creatures were. His mind boggled at the thought of them being any bigger than they already seemed, but they kept coming, growing more and more gigantic by the moment. All thoughts of ramming the dragons with the ship scurried away now, replaced by a fear that the creatures might be able to tear Phoenix apart with their bare claws—or perhaps rip her from the sky like an eagle might snatch a sparrow.

“Got a plan, boss?” Burch said. The shifter spoke in an awed tone, never taking his eyes from the oncoming creatures.

“Sallah? Monja?” Kandler said. “You still in good with your gods?”

Both of them nodded, then cleared their throats and said softly, “Yes.”

“Then you’d better get praying. It’s the only hope we have.”

“I thought you didn’t care for the gods,” Sallah said.

Burch grunted. “Long shot’s better than no shot at all.”

“The gods don’t care for me,” Kandler said, “but the rest of you might have a chance.” He glanced at the knight and the shaman. “Save your prayers for Esprë—and for yourselves if you have any left over.”

Kandler turned to Burch. “You don’t happen to have any of those shockbolts left, do you?”

The shifter grimaced. “I played out that hand long ago. This one, with these two, this is a whole new game.”

Kandler stopped then, stunned. Ibrido stood right behind Esprë. Then he snarled. “That’s not going to save you.”

“What?” the half-dragon said in Te’oma’s voice. “Do you have a better idea?”

Before Kandler could respond, the sound of two ear-splitting howls drowned out the roar of the airship’s ring of fire as if it was no louder than a babbling brook. They grew louder and higher as they approached, and then they passed overhead, marked by a pair of massive shadows that seemed to blot out the sky. Just as fast, they faded away, the noises dropping lower and fainter as they zoomed by.

Kandler barely got his head up in time to see the underbelly of the pair of dragons jetting across the sky overhead. The wind of their passage almost knocked him from his feet. It lifted Monja clean off her toes. If not for the leather strap that she’d grabbed on the console, she might have been swept straight over the aft railing.

The justicar flung himself at the aft rail and caught it, watching the dragons go. They touched wingtips briefly for a moment, then separated and curled about in opposite directions to come up behind the ship, surpassing her speed and then matching it.

“Get her below,” Kandler said to Burch, pushing the shifter toward Esprë. “Now.”