The Road to Death

24

The middle of the next day, Burch shouted for Kandler’s attention. The justicar saw the shifter signaling toward a gray patch on the horizon, and he sighed with relief as he realized that Burch had spotted Fort Bones where the sky met the plains.

It had been a long, hard trip. At first, Kandler never dreamed he’d tire of flying or even become bored with it, but hour after hour of leaning forward atop Swoop had robbed the experience of any sort of excitement.

They’d made only three stops, each about eight hours apart. They couldn’t bring the glidewings in to land on the ground, as they feared they might never get back into the sky on their backs again. Instead, they’d been forced to search out the few small copses that spotted the plains, often near a watering hole or along the edge of a shallow creek or stream.

Perched in the tops of these small trees, they ate and drank what they could fish from their packs. After they finished, they took to the skies again with yet another gut-wrenching takeoff. Kandler swore that his boots had scraped through the tall grasses on the last such embarking, but he preferred not to think about it.

At first, riding Swoop had been exhilarating, but as Kandler’s body grew sore from sitting—or leaning—in the strange saddle, the thrill wore off. Eventually, he braved sleeping atop the glidewing as it soared through the skies, trusting the straps around him to hold him in place. He hadn’t been sure he’d be able to manage it, but the great beast’s rhythmic breathing helped him nod off.

Xalt had tried starting a conversation a few times, but he stopped when Monja pointed out that sound carried far and wide from so high in the air. If they did not want to become a target of some wandering predator, they would do better to keep quiet. The few times Xalt had tossed caution to the winds, Burch had stared him down until he fell silent.

Now, though, their goal called to them from the horizon, growing closer with every passing moment.

From the air, Fort Bones didn’t look like much: a set of low wooden buildings surrounded by a high wall fashioned from baked clay. Even from this distance, Kandler could spy armored guards shambling about the crenellated top of the outer wall, forever gazing outward for threats from without—or above.

A hue and cry went up from the walls as a sentry spotted the glidewings. Flying in formation as they were, there could be little doubt that they were headed for the fort. Even if the soldiers in Fort Bones couldn’t spot the riders atop the lizards, the arrival of six such large creatures would be enough to rouse every soul—or body, at least—in the place.

“We land here!” Monja shouted back from her place in the lead, turning to be sure the others could hear her. “If we get too much closer, we risk being knocked from the sky.”

Kandler pushed down on Swoop’s reins, but as had happened every time in the past, the creature seemed to move more according to its own will than his. It followed Monja’s beast in a curving dive that came to rest a safe double bowshot from the fort’s walls.

Just like before, the landing jarred Kandler to his core, but he was so grateful to find himself on solid ground again that he didn’t give it a thought. Instead, he fumbled with the straps around him until they loosened, and he slid off the massive lizard’s back and into grasses tall enough to reach up to his chest.

“Everyone all right?” he asked, scanning the relieved faces of the others.

Xalt threw himself to the ground, disappearing in the grass. “I’ll never leave you again,” he said to the earth beneath him.

Brendis, who’d looked pale and green since the dawn, staggered three steps, then bent over and vomited loudly. The lizards all skittered away from him on their short, folded legs. When he stood up and wiped his chin, he said, “I’ve been waiting to do that since we left the platform.”

“Good thing,” Burch said, smirking. “Glidewings don’t like the smell. Might have plucked you right off its back.”

The young knight smiled, his color already returning to him. “Nothing could have broken the grip I had on that thing’s neck.”

“Where’s Monja?” Kandler asked. The little shaman had disappeared in the grasses, which rose a full foot over her head.

“Just gathering my things,” her voice said from off to the left. “You should all do the same. The glidewings will leave us soon.”

“Thank goodness,” Xalt said as he crept up to his mount to strip it of his supplies.

“They won’t wait for us?” Kandler asked.

Monja’s head popped up through the grasses, right behind her mount. Kandler guessed she was standing on its tail. “A grounded glidewing is easy prey for larger beasts,” she said. “As soon as we let them loose, they’ll make their way back to the Wandering Inn.”

Kandler said, “How are we going to get into Fort Bones? Just walk up and knock on the gates?”

Sallah, who stood out ahead of the others, shading her eyes with her hand as she stared at the distant fort, answered, “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

Kandler peered out alongside the lady knight. The gates to the fort had been flung open, and a squad of twenty soldiers, each dressed in gleaming, black suits of Karrnathi armor, swarmed out of the place. A trio of what Kandler guessed had to be officers rode out after them astride massive, ebon-coated horses.

“Keep your swords sheathed,” Monja said. “We are here to talk, not fight.”

“Do they know that?” Burch asked.

As the Karrnathi troops grew nearer, Kandler saw glimpses of thin, white limbs peeking through gaps in the armor of the foot troops. Beneath their high-crested helmets, empty eye sockets stared back at him and the others, merciless and unblinking.

The officers, though, looked out at the newcomers with living eyes as they guided their steeds with their solid, well-muscled frames. Kandler nodded, happy that the Captain of Bones had sent out actual people for him to talk with. It was a good sign. Had there been nothing but skeletons in the greeting party, the only response they would have understood would have been cold steel.

Still, he was prepared to kill them all—every last one—if they stood between him and Esprë.

As the foot soldiers neared, they spread out in a long line that came wrapping around Kandler and the others until the skeletons surrounded them. When the circle of skeletons was complete, it parted on the edge nearest the fort, and the three officers rode their black horses into the gap.

“You have wandered into the lands of the Kingdom of Karrnath, ruled over by his beneficence King Kaius the Third,” the small, stout, broad-faced rider in the center said, her words clipped and efficient. “As his honored representative, the Captain of Bones welcomes you to Karrnath and inquires as to the reason for your visit.”

Monja started to reply but then looked to Kandler instead. The justicar stepped forward, reminding himself to keep his hand off the hilt of his sword. The display of Karrnathi force didn’t intimidate him as it was meant to, but he needed these people to help rather than hinder him.

“We’re pursuing my stepdaughter, a young elf by the name of Esprë. A changeling brought her in this direction aboard a stolen airship.”

The dwarf slid down from the side of her horse using an unusual set of double-stepped stirrups. Most dwarves stuck with ponies instead of horses, animals more suited to their stature, but this dwarf wasn’t the sort to let her size get in her way. She bounded over to Kandler, her hands stretched out before her in greeting, although she halted a sword’s length from the justicar.

“Are you Kandler?” she asked, a smile on her wide lips and a look of astonishment in her eyes.

Kandler froze, staring at the dwarf. He’d never been here before. He’d never met this dwarf. How could she know his name, unless …?

“Tell her, boss,” Burch said, slapping the justicar on the shoulder. The gesture snapped Kandler into action again.

“Yes,” he said. “That’s—I’m Kandler.”

The dwarf favored the justicar with an infectious grin. “Have I got some good news for you.”