The Road to Death

61

Burch heard Ibrido’s final scream and smiled. “One more bastard down,” he said. As he spoke, the dragon—one of its wings still smoking from its encounter with the ring of fire—soared past the ship’s bow and beat its wings toward Phoenix.

“One more to go.”

“We’re not going anywhere but down,” Te’oma said. “This airship is ready to explode!”

“We’re not leaving them,” Burch said, stabbing a finger at Phoenix as it scudded through the sky above. “Get this ship after that dragon, now!”

Te’oma shuddered, shaking her head. “We’ll never make it,” she said. “We’ll blow up in midair.”

Burch considered drawing his knife and threatening to kill the changeling. It would be a bad bluff though. If she could get a hold of herself long enough to think, she’d realize he couldn’t fly the ship himself.

Instead, he reached out and steadied her by the shoulders. “They need us,” he said. “If we don’t get up there, they’re all dead.”

The changeling refused to meet his gaze. “They’re dead either way,” she said. “There’s no way to stop that dragon. What good is it for us to toss our bodies onto the same pyre?”

Burch pulled Te’oma’s chin around so that he could look into her round white eyes. Gazing back into his black eyes seemed to calm her. She stopped shivering, she swallowed hard, and she took a deep breath.

“Don’t count us out yet,” Burch said, patting the crossbow hanging from its sling around his shoulder. “We still have one angle left.”

Te’oma exhaled through her nose and nodded. “All right,” she said, staring up at the dragon and the airship above them. “What do you need me to do?”

Even before Burch could speak, the ring of fire around the airship crackled louder than ever, and Keeper’s Claw leaped upward after its prey. The shifter grinned at the changeling as he took his crossbow in his hands again. “Just get me as close to that flying lizard as you can.”

Te’oma nodded, then furrowed her brow with concentration. To Burch, the resultant roar sounded as if the elemental creature in the ring of fire laughed with glee. Whether with them or at them, he couldn’t tell. He decided he didn’t care to know.

The ship soared up after the dragon, devouring the distance between them. Burch couldn’t tell for sure if they would catch up with Nithkorrh before it reached Phoenix, but the race would be close enough for him to hope.

Burch put an arm around Te’oma and escorted her to the ship’s bow. Out here, as far from the airship’s roaring ring as he could get, he had a much clearer field of fire. He knelt down and rested his crossbow against the gunwale and did his best to wait.

“Monja!” Xalt shouted back toward the bridge. “We need you here now!”

“This ship won’t pilot itself,” the halfling called back.

Esprë cursed and raced back toward the bridge. “Can you save them?” Esprë asked in a raw voice as she raced toward the wheel.

“With luck and a prayer,” Monja said, already halfway off the bridge. Her normally affable manner had turned dead serious. “Or two.”

The warforged knelt down next to Kandler and Sallah, staining his knees with their blood. He couldn’t tell whom all the crimson had spilled from, and at this point he didn’t guess it mattered. Both the justicar and the knight required aid, more than he could give. Only the shaman’s healing powers could save them now.

While Monja’s tiny feet padded toward him, Xalt helped Duro separate the two. Kandler’s skin had turned as white as the changeling’s, and he looked like he might pass out at any moment. Sallah’s complexion was not much better.

Xalt removed Sallah’s breastplate to inspect the damage. Ibrido’s sword had cut through her skin and bones. From the crimson dripping from her lips and the way she hacked out every breath, the warforged guessed she was bleeding into her lungs.

Xalt glanced at both of the humans as they raced toward death. He couldn’t tell who would cross the finish line first.

“Is there anything I can do?” Esprë shouted from the bridge, near hysterics.

Xalt felt bad for the young elf. For all her power, her dragonmark could only destroy life, the opposite of what they needed right now.

Monja glanced back and shook her head at Esprë’s request as she knelt down and began to pray. The halfling’s lips moved so fast that Xalt could only guess at the words, but he could see the golden glow granted to her by her gods begin to form around her hands.

Then the warforged heard the roar of a furious dragon coming fast off the starboard stern.

“I don’t suppose you can do something about that?” Duro yelled to the young elf.

Esprë stared back at the dragon as it came rushing up toward them. “I don’t think so,” she shouted.

“Keep pushing,” Burch said to Te’oma. “We’re gaining on him.”

The shifter glanced over his shoulder at the changeling, her eyes still closed, and saw the sweat beaded on her brow despite the chilly dusk air. He decided not to risk distracting her, and he went back to lining up an angle at Nithkorrh.

The dragon had dispensed with dodging about like it had before. Instead it put every bit of its effort into flying toward Phoenix as fast as its wings would take it. So far, the strategy had worked well. While Keeper’s Claw was gaining on the dragon, they still weren’t close enough that Burch felt he could risk a bolt.

As they neared the dragon, the gunwale started to tremble. For a moment, Burch thought he could compensate for it by lifting his crossbow up into his arms, but soon the entire airship began to shake as if every one of the boards that made it up might fly apart from each other at any second.

“What’s going on?” Burch said, standing up into a wide stance.

“The ship can’t take the speed!”

“Then slow it down. I can’t loose a bolt like this.”

The changeling grimaced for a moment. Burch noticed tears running down her cheeks. “I can’t!” she said. “The elemental won’t let me.” She opened her eyes. “It wants to destroy the ship.”

Burch cursed. He stared up at the dragon, wondering what to do next. Then he turned to Te’oma and said, “Quit fighting it then. Give it what it wants.”

The changeling’s jaw dropped.

Burch pointed up at Nithkorrh. “Tell it to ram the dragon.”