The Road to Death

53

“Where is she?” Kandler asked Monja as she greeted him at the top of the ladder.

“I’m glad to see you’re all right,” the halfling shaman said. “The mountain shook so hard we thought it was an earthquake.”

“The changeling,” Kandler said. “Where is she?”

Monja pointed up at the bridge, and Kandler spun about to stare at Te’oma waving at him from behind the wheel.

“It turns out I’m not as good at flying this airship as I’d hoped,” Monja said. “I decided to release Te’oma in case we needed some fancy flying.”

Kandler stared down at the halfling. “Are you insane?” he asked. “Wait.” He knelt down in front of her and peered into her eyes. “Did she use her psionic powers on you? She’s a telepath, you know.”

Monja beamed at the justicar. “My mind is stronger and sounder than yours,” she said. “Have you spoken with her? She’s a charmer.”

Kandler shook his head. “For a kidnapper and a killer.”

“Have you not killed plenty of people?” Xalt asked from Kandler’s other side.

Kandler did not want to have this conversation. “She kidnapped my daughter. She tried to kill me. I don’t think I’ll forgive that soon—especially since Esprë’s still in danger.”

“She’s alive!” Sallah shouted as she sprinted over to where Kandler stood to greet her. “Te’oma says she’s in contact with Esprë, and she’s alive. Ibrido still has her, and he’s protecting her while Nithkorrh—that’s the dragon’s name—tries to batter his way out of the mountain.”

A muffled bit of thunder sounded from the middle of the mountain to punctuate Sallah’s report.

“I want that changeling back in her chains,” Kandler said as he strode up to the bridge. “We can’t trust her. She’s not safe.” He turned to glare up at the changeling behind the wheel, his hand on the hilt of his sword. “You’re dangerous.”

Te’oma frowned down at Kandler. “Right now, I want what you want: Esprë out of that dragon’s hands, safe and sound. Isn’t that enough?”

Kandler considered this for a moment. “I can’t concentrate on saving my daughter if I’m worried you’re going to stick a knife in my back.”

“I got a solution to that, boss.” Burch stepped up from where he was holding his crossbow trained on the changeling’s back. “We got two airships here. Sallah’s the only other decent pilot we got. Let the chameleon here take the other.”

Kandler goggled at his friend, sure that Te’oma had somehow altered his brain. “That can’t be you talking, Burch. You’d give her a Karrnathi warship to pilot all by herself? What if she grabs Esprë and runs off again? What if she decides to ram our ship?” He frowned. “This is a bad idea all around.”

Burch patted the side of his crossbow and said, “I’ll go with her.”

Kandler climbed up on to the bridge and stared into his friend’s deep, black eyes. The shifter met his gaze without flinching.

“It’s me in here, boss.”

Kandler stared a moment longer, then broke into a grin and clapped the shifter on the back. “All right,” he said, throwing his arm around Burch’s shoulders. “All right,” he called to the others. “This is what we’re going to do.

“Sallah, come up here and take the wheel.”

The changeling stepped aside as the lady knight made her way on to the bridge and took hold of the wheel. Sallah showed Te’oma what she thought of her by putting her back to her.

“Bring us over the Karrnathi airship. We’re going to drop off a couple of passengers.” He nodded at Burch, and the shifter took the changeling by the arm and escorted her over to the rope ladder. Kandler followed them as Phoenix moved into place.

As they reached the gunwale, Kandler pulled Te’oma around by the shoulder and looked into her blank white eyes. “Keep in contact with Esprë. If something happens to her, I want to know right away.” He paused for a moment. “How is she right now?”

“Still terrified, still in Ibrido’s care.”

“And the dragon?”

“He’s making progress. Esprë thinks he’ll break free soon.”

Kandler nodded. “I want you two on point for this,” he said. “Your ship is expendable. If the dragon tries to fly off, I want Phoenix ready for pursuit.” He looked to Burch.

“How many of those things do you have left?”

The shifter held up two fingers.

“Make them count.”

Te’oma went down the ladder first, with Burch sliding down right after her. Kandler watched as the changeling strode over to the Karrnathi bridge and took the wheel. The shifter prowled around the bow of the ship, scouting out the best spots from which to loose his crossbow.

For not the first time in the past week, Kandler wished he was a praying man. He looked up at Sallah as he strode back toward the bridge, and he hoped she could do enough of it for all of them.

“Monja,” he said, “I need you ready to heal my daughter as soon as we get her aboard.”

“Of course,” the halfling shaman nodded.

“Duro,” Kandler said, “how good are you with that crossbow?”

“I’ll hit the dragon,” the dwarf said, unslinging his weapon. “It’s a big target.”

Kandler clapped Duro on the back. Although he’d known the warrior only a short time, he’d already decided he liked him.

“Good,” the justicar said. “I want you back here covering the bridge. Sallah will be too busy with the wheel.

“Sallah,” Kandler said, “keep on the changeling’s tail. They’re to engage with the dragon first. We’ll try hit and run attacks until we can get a good angle on snatching Esprë away.”

The knight stuck out her chin and nodded. “We’ll get her back.”

“What about me?” Xalt said.

Kandler hadn’t forgotten the warforged. “How are you with acid?” he asked.

Xalt stared at Kandler with his ebony eyes for a moment. “My metal plates would provide some protection against it, but it would eat my fibers away as quickly as your skin.”

Kandler frowned. “Can you fire a bow?”

Xalt nodded. “Every warforged was built to be a soldier, no matter what path we followed after that.”

“Excellent. The lathon stocked our weapons stores at the Wandering Inn. Go into the hold and grab a bow for me, one for you, and as many arrows as you can find.”

Soon after Xalt disappeared into the hold, Keeper’s Claw took off, climbing higher into the sky. Under Sallah’s hand, Phoenix followed. Kandler strode up to the ship’s bow and soon found he had an excellent view of most of the mountain.

The air was cold and thin up here. After the close, foul atmosphere of the dragon’s lair, it made Kandler feel lighter. It gave him a focus he needed, something he’d been unable to find when facing down the dragon through that doorway in the iron wall.

He knew that this was his best chance to rescue Esprë. He’d had enough of this chase that had led him across three nations and into a fourth. He was prepared to kill whoever or whatever he had to so that he could put an end to it. He was ready to die so that she might be free. One way or another, this pursuit would end today.

Below him, a plume of smoke erupted from the mountain. It took a moment before he realized it wasn’t smoke at all but a tower of dust thrown up from the rocks below.

“Take us down,” he called back at Sallah. As he spoke, he saw Keeper’s Claw moving into position to one side of the plume near its base.

Another plume went up inside the first, piercing it as it surpassed it. A terrible boom sounded out, and the mountaintop shook with it. Rocks tumbled down from the mountain’s tallest heights. Off to the west, an avalanche started, the snow shaking from the top of the mountain in waves and roaring down until it passed the snowline and became part of a rockslide instead.

The noise drowned out all else for a moment. Kandler thought he could still hear a steady pounding coming from somewhere inside the mountain, but he couldn’t be sure.

As the avalanche ground itself out somewhere near the base of the mountain, another plume went up near where it had before. Te’oma and Sallah adjusted the positions of their ships to accommodate it, for a moment coming perilously close to the plume. Kandler could smell the dry, metallic scent of shattered rock in the chilly air.

Then a part of the side of the mountain exploded outward, showering Phoenix in gravel and rocks. Kandler ducked his head under his arms to protect himself and found himself coughing on the fine dust that seemed to blow onto and through everything.

He looked up to see something had blotted out the sun. At first, he thought it was the cloud of dust and dirt still settling out of the air.

Then he heard the dragon’s mighty roar.