The Road to Death

40

Esprë, are you there?

The changeling’s voice rang in the young elf’s mind. She’d returned to the captain’s cabin and locked the door behind her. She knew that Ibrido could break the door down if he wanted to get to her, but she didn’t want him to see her cry.

She’d thought long and hard about everything the dragon-elf had told her. Deep down, she knew it all made sense. She didn’t want to believe any of it, but the fact that he had stolen her from another kidnapper to whisk her off to the Ironroot Mountains—and then beyond—meant there had to be something to it.

Esprë?

For a long time after she’d left the bridge, Esprë had considered killing herself. It wouldn’t be easy. She guessed that Ibrido had given the skeletons orders to protect her if they could. They wouldn’t just let her dive through the shattered windows in the front of the captain’s cabin. Would they?

Esprë had been working up the courage to try when the changeling contacted her again. Would the girl’s death put an end to the plans to destroy everyone who shared any kind of blood with her, or would it be some kind of pointless gesture? She’d heard that powerful priests could raise even the ancient dead back to life. Her persecutors no doubt had access to such power.

Esprë?

“Yes,” the young elf said aloud, “I’m here. She glanced at her skeletal jailors, but they remained as impassive as ever.

Thank the Host. Where are you?

“I’m back in the captain’s cabin.” Esprë wondered if the changeling could hear the rawness in her voice. She didn’t want her to know she’d been crying either.

You got out onto the deck?

“Yes, and the bridge.”

Can you tell where you’re going?

“I’ve never been to this part of the world before. I don’t recognize anything.”

Of course. What direction are you heading?

“Still east by northeast, I think.”

Do you see any landmarks around you? Anything we could use to steer by?

“We’re heading for the Ironroot Mountains. At least that’s what Ibrido says.”

Ibrido? You spoke with him?

Esprë looked up at the skeletons. They hadn’t moved since she started talking to Te’oma over their mindlink. Could they hear her? Even if so, could they report what she said to their master? They couldn’t speak for sure. Could they write? Use hand signals?

She didn’t think so.

“Yes. He’s flying the ship.”

Do you think there’s a way you could get free?

Esprë shook her head, even though she knew Te’oma couldn’t see her. “No. He’s ordered the skeletons to kill me if anything happens to him.”

Damn.

Esprë waited for a moment. “Are you still there?”

Yes. I’m sorry. I was relating things to Kandler.

“Tell him I love him.”

He knows.

“Tell him anyhow.”

I will.

“Ibrido says he’s taking me away.”

We won’t let that happen.

“How are you going to stop it?”

We’re—we’re working on that.

“We’re going to visit someone living in the Mror Holds first.”

A dwarf? This doesn’t seem like the work of the Iron Council.

Esprë shrugged, even though she knew Te’oma couldn’t see it. “How far behind me are you?”

We have no way of knowing. We’re coming after you as fast as we can.

“We should reach the mountains soon.”

Do what you can to delay Ibrido. The longer you stay in the mountains, the better our chance to catch up with you.

“I think Phoenix moves faster than this airship. Ibrido is mean to the elemental. Maybe it doesn’t move so quickly for him, or maybe it’s because the ship is so big.”

Just keep alert. Do you think Ibrido suspects I’m talking to you?

“I don’t see how he could.” Esprë looked up at the skeletons. They still hadn’t moved. “I’ve been careful.”

Be sure you keep it that way. We need you alive.

“You mean you need me alive. Isn’t that why you’re helping Kandler now? Once you rescue me from Ibrido, aren’t you just going to try to kidnap me yourself again?”

Don’t be silly.

“I’m not being silly. I’m not a little girl. I’m older than you.”

I’m sorry. I—I don’t have any plans to kidnap you again. Once we get you back, I’ll sit down with Kandler, and we’ll figure out what’s best for you.

“Don’t you mean what’s best for you? What about your daughter?”

For a long moment, the only thoughts in Esprë’s head were her own.

“Well?”

I failed the Lich Queen. She put an end to our agreement.

“Even if you manage to get me back and deliver me to her anyhow?”

She doesn’t think that’s possible.

“You do. Don’t think I trust you for a minute. Be sure to tell Kandler that too.”

You don’t need to worry about that. If you could see me right now, you’d know he doesn’t trust me either. He has me chained to the deck by a collar, and that shifter friend of his watches me constantly.

Esprë laughed at the image that leaped into her mind. “Good.”

A fist hammered at the door. Esprë stayed locked to her seat, but one of the skeletons got up and slid the bolt aside.

“I have to go,” she whispered.

I’ll try to contact you again later then. Keep yourself safe.

The door opened, and a third skeleton entered the room. It pointed at Esprë with a long, thin finger bone. She stood up and followed it from the cabin without a word, the wind pushing her from the place once again.

Ibrido waited for her on the bridge, his green scales glinting in the midday sun. The bosun, a reedy man who looked to have been left out to dry too long in the sun, stood at the wheel this time. He eyed the girl carefully, without a trace of hope in his eyes, only the desperate glare of a cornered animal that knew it had been outmatched. Esprë decided that this one would be no help to her.

The dragon-elf bared his teeth at her as she stepped up on to the bridge and walked over next to him. “There it is,” he said, indicating a tall, snowy peak that towered over everything else for miles around, “Mount Darumkrak.”

Esprë stared at the mountain from top to bottom as they scudded near it, already slowing down. She thought she detected a plume of smoke escaping from somewhere near the peak. “Does your superior live at the top?”

Ibrido shook his head. “That smoke comes from the forge fires of the clan of misfit dwarves who live like sparrows tucked into the eaves of his roof. They believe they have walled him into his lair, but there is nothing the pathetic creatures of Clan Drakyager could do to keep him trapped.”

“He lives with them?”

“His home is an underground lake deep beneath the mountain’s roots, a swamp of sorts in which he lets his food fester before he devours it.”

Esprë craned her neck around. “How do we get to it then?”

“We will moor the ship over there,” he said, pointing toward a tall stand of pines. “Then we will descend via a rope ladder, along with a skeletal escort. Once we reach the lair, only you and I will enter though. He has a taste for bones, and he would devour the first skeleton he saw.”

Keeper’s Claw inched closer to its mooring point. A few skeletons stood along the port gunwale, twirling loose ropes and looking for a tree to tie the ship to.

“Do we both have to go?” Esprë said. “It sounds dangerous.”

“It can be,” Ibrido said, “but those are my orders. I’m to present you to him right away. He will then decide exactly what’s to be done with you. He might eat you on the spot.”

Esprë’s stomach flipped over on her. She’d hoped to figure out a way to stay behind on the ship until Phoenix caught up with them. She wondered if she could make herself vomit. The dragon-elf might not push her for a bit if he figured she was sick.

“I don’t feel—”

She never got to finish her sentence. A loud explosion rocked the airship and sent her reeling toward the rear rail of the bridge.