Lost mark 3 The Queen of Death: (24 page)

"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. "Espre’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 Espre, who stood alone at the wheel. She smiled at them and waved when she saw them, and they each gave her a halfhearted 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 Espre. "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 humon-gous 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 Espre—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 Espre. 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 Espre. "Now.”

Chapter

38

T
he shifter didn t waste a word to argue. He wrapped an arm around the young elf’s waist, then vaulted both of them over the console to land on the main deck below. The ship started to pitch, but Sallah darted forward and grabbed the wheel, bringing the
Phoenix
back under control.

As the airship stabilized, Burch and Espre disappeared through the hatch, into the darkness of the airship’s hold. With his stepdaughter as safe as she could be, Kandler turned his attention back to the dragons. The two of them growled at each other for a moment in their arcane tongue. When they were done, the smaller of the two dove forward, straight for the
Phoenix.

To Kandler, it looked like the dragon might be launching an attack. The justicar looked for the telltale inhalation that such creatures employed before loosing their caustic breath at a hapless foe, but it never came, nor did the dragon extend its claws.

At the last moment, the dragon beat its wings once, and it scudded right over the top of the bridge and through the ring of fire. As it went, Kandler noticed it seemed smaller and paler.

The dragon seemed ready to slam right into the ship’s main deck, and Kandler’s stomach tied itself in knots as he wondered if it meant to go after Burch and Espre. If the dragon wanted to, it could probably rip right through the wooden planks before anyone could do anything about it. Kandler drew his fangblade and hoped that if anything could slice through a dragon’s armor it would be a sword forged from a dragon’s tooth.

Then, just as the dragon alit on the deck, its back to the observers on the bridge, it changed. It morphed from the fearsome monster it had been into a tall, thin person with short hair the color of blood. It—or he, as the creature now seemed to be—wore a shirt and trousers of perfect black, cut in a style that Kandler had never seen, ancient and timeless at the same time.

The new arrival turned toward the bridge and acknowledged Kandler and the others with a brief wave. He had a long, sharp face, an aquiline nose, and high, pointed ears. The only flaw—if it could be called that—in his preternatural beauty was a scattering of reddish freckles that stretched across both of his high, sharp cheekbones and his nose.

In another face, these might have humanized the bearer. Instead, they made him seem even more alien in the way they set off his unblinking, crimson-colored eyes. His sharp smile, in which every tooth seemed a fang, completed the image in a horrifying way.

"Welcome to the Dragonreach,” the man said, his voice— which bore no kindness, only disdain—was higher than Kandler would have guessed. "This is the gateway to the path that leads to Argonnessen, and we have been charged with protecting it. State your business in this part of the world, or we will help you along into the next.”

"We . . Kandler’s voice faltered. As he gazed at the man who stared up at him expectantly, he couldn’t help but think about the dragon soaring through the sky just off the
Phoenix’s
stern.

"We’re on our way to establish a trade relationship between Argonnessen and Thrane,” Sallah said.

The man scoffed. "We have lived for untold millennia without needing anything from the younger races. Your goods are not wanted here.”

"What of Seren?” Te’oma said, her voice far more like Ibrido’s now. "The people who live on the isle that rests in your land’s long shadow may not be so satisfied with their lot.”

The man smirked. "Well said, cousin, but don’t think your mixed blood will carry you far with me or the barbarians who take so much pride in the way they supposedly guard our gates. Many dragons see such as you as aberrations, insults to our blood that should be laid to rest before they can spread.”

"We wish only to travel to Seren,” Kandler said, trying to avoid any confrontation with their guest. "We mean you no disrespect.”

The man stood there silent for a long moment, the wind flapping at his clothes. "Very well,” he said. "We will escort you there. You will not proceed any farther, nor will you deviate from the path on which we lead you, or we will burn you from the sky.”

With that, the man turned and walked toward the starboard gunwale. He climbed up on to it and balanced there for a moment in the rushing wind. Then he leaped over the side of the airship and disappeared.

A moment later, the smaller dragon rose above the ship’s starboard railing, rising fast on swift-beating wings. He moved out toward the front of the
Phoenix
and matched the airship’s speed right there.

"Follow that dragon,” Kandler said to Sallah. "I’ll be right back.”

"Aye,” the lady knight said with a nervous wink.

Kandler sauntered down from the bridge and made his way to the hatch. With a quick glance to the rear, he noticed that the dragon behind the airship could not see the hatchway from here. The bridge blocked its way.

"These dragons seem much friendlier than the last one we met,” Kandler said as he slipped below the deck.

Espre rushed forward and threw herself into Kandler's arms. He could feel her shivering there for a moment. Then she pushed herself away.

"Don’t do that again,” she said. "I can handle this myself.” She held her arms tight around her and scowled at him, her anger warring with relief.

"Good for you,” Kandler said softly. "I don't think I can.”

"I know I can’t,” said Burch. "Two dragons flapping around us over the middle of the Dragonreach? I’m just happy to still be sucking air instead of water—or fire.

"What’s the plan now?” Espre said.

Kandler wanted to reach out and hug her, but she clearly didn’t want that right now. Instead, he rubbed his chin and said, "I told them we were heading to Seren to set up a trade agreement, and they seemed to buy it—or not care enough about it to object. They’re escorting us there now. You two should probably stay down here until we get there, just to avoid any more trouble.”

"Sold,” Burch said. He leaped into the nearest hammock and stretched out his long, furry legs.

"But . . .” Espre started.

Kandler didn’t cut her off. He waited for her to continue. When she didn’t, he prompted her. "But what?”

"But shouldn’t you have asked me first?”

"You weren’t there.”

"Because you had Burch take me down here.”

"True enough,” Kandler nodded. He put a hand on her shoulder. "I’m sorry, Espre. I’m used to treating you like a child still, and I’ll have to work to get over that. I can tell you one thing though.”