David Baldacci - The Keeper

I pointed us in the direction where I knew Delph was. A skylight spear shot near us and I rolled over and then zipped downward.

“Vega Jane!”

Delph was there running for his life. I knew this to be true because a group of ekos was right behind, firing their mortas at him. I pointed us straight at him and Harry Two and I rocketed toward the ground. At the last possible moment, I leveled out, reached down and gripped Delph’s outstretched hand. We soared upward and then did a long backward arc before we both bent our shoulders forward, propelling us to speeds I had never reached before. We would need every bit of it because we had only slivers to execute our plan.

We streaked down the shaft through which we had both previously fallen and landed at the bottom. The only ekos there was Luc. This wasn’t by happenstance. Delph had arranged it earlier with the head ekos, who had simply ordered the other ekos away. I freed Harry Two from the harness and gripped Luc’s arm.

“The aero ship,” I said.

After grabbing our tucks from the sleeping chamber, we followed him down a passageway. Then I abruptly stopped.

“Wait a mo’,” I said. I put on my glove, willed the Elemental to full size and took aim.

Delph pulled Luc back and said, “Cover your ears.”

I let the Elemental fly and it soared straight ahead and smashed into the towering wall of skulls. There was a terrific explosion and the bony masses collapsed downward, creating a mess of crushed bones on the rock floor. When the dust settled, there wasn’t a single pair of eye sockets staring back at us from that hideous collection.

“Bugger off, O mighty King,” I shouted to no one in particular.

We arrived at the aero ship’s chamber a few slivers later. Luc unlocked the enormous door.

“I’ll get the oars,” said Delph.

But a sound made us all turn.

It was Cere and little Kori at the doorway.

“Thorne is returning,” Cere said breathlessly. “And I have never seen him this angry.” She paused, her face quivering. “And from words I have heard, Luc, he knows we have betrayed him. We will not live past this light.”

“Yes, you will,” I said firmly. I pulled the book from my tuck. “This is the proof you need, Luc. If this doesn’t turn your kind against your prat king, nothing will.”

Luc took the book, opened it, flipped through a few pages, and his features paled. His expression then turned to one of disgust. And from that to anger. It was as if I could see Luc’s courage filling back up inside him. He closed the book and looked up at me.

“I knew that Thorne was mad, but I never suspected... this evil.”

Delph said, “But you musta known ekos and gnomes were going missing?”

“Aye, but Thorne blamed it all on the grubbs. I can see now it was his way to turn our races against each other.”

“He’s a cruel monster, Luc,” I said. “I don’t know what else we’ll face in the Quag, but I doubt we’ll confront anything more evil than Thorne.” I paused. “So what are you going to do about it?” I asked bluntly, tapping the book.

“Do?” said Luc. “Do?” Luc seemed to be swelling right before our eyes, growing into something, or perhaps back into the bloke he had once been.

“We are going to take our lives back. And free us from a bloody king who never should have been allowed to lead a blade of grass.”

We exchanged tearful hugs.

As we drew apart, Luc said, “Thank you, Vega. You have given us the chance to fight and take back what is ours. Now go. And good luck to you in your journey.”

Luc locked the door behind him. We could hear shouts and running feet in the distance.

While Delph grabbed the oars, I ran over to the aero ship, jumped inside the carriage and started fumbling with the contraption that forced air into the bladder. “Can you figure out how this works?” I called out to Delph.

“I know how it works” came a voice.

I whirled around to see the gnome who had looked at me funny that one light. He came forward from where he had been hidden in a crevice of rock.

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Sieve,” he answered.

“And how come you can speak Wugish?” I asked.

“Easy enough. I listen to Luc and the king,” he replied smoothly. “No one much notices us gnomes. So you hear things, you do.”

“Can you fill it with air?”

He hopped into the carriage and did something with the contraption such that a flame erupted in its belly. There was a whooshing sound and I noted the bladder was rapidly beginning to fill as the heated air was propelled into it.

I turned to Sieve. “How long?”

“Not long,” he said. “As you can see.”

The ropes holding the carriage in place were already straining against the lift generated by the strengthening buoyancy.

Delph stared up toward the ceiling and his features collapsed. “And how do we open that so we can actually get this thing out?”

I looked where he was looking. It was only then that I noticed there was no opening.

“Damn,” I screamed. Our plan was apparently full of holes.

But Sieve pointed to a dark corner where a metal lever was wedged between two large gears. “That’s how. It’ll open the roof. Plenty of room to get out.”

Now I looked at him suspiciously. I didn’t care for blokes who were that agreeable. Give me stubbornness or outright deceit any light and I will readily accept it. But casual kindness will bedevil me all night long.

“Why are you helping us?” I demanded.

He smiled and said with a slight hiss, “I don’t much like the company of kings.” He held up one of his clawlike hands. “I like to get in the dirt. Why we gnomes get along with the grubbs, I ’spect. And I saw you give that book to Luc. I heard what he said. No more bloody king.” He clacked his claws several times more in apparent delight at the thought.

Delph pulled on the lever, and a hole opened up directly above the aero ship, which was nearly ready to go.

I glanced at the locked door as footsteps hurried toward it.

“Delph, quick! He’ll have a key.”

We rushed over to some heavy crates built from thick wood stacked next to the door and wedged them against it.

We hurried to the carriage and climbed in, throwing our tucks in too. Delph had already slid the oars through the holes in the sides of the aero ship. There was a knife in a leather sheath inside the carriage. I pulled it out and looked at Delph. “To cut the ropes holding us down.”

He nodded and looked upward at the now full bladder. The ropes were mightily creaking and straining to keep the ship tethered to the ground.

There came an almighty crash against the thick door but it held fast with the added weight of the crates behind it.

“Cut the lines,” cried Sieve. “Do it now or you will surely perish.”

I started hacking the ropes as fast as I could, but they were stout.

Another great crash came and the door split a bit, yet still held.

I heard Thorne roar, “Fetch the cannon!”

Delph grabbed the knife from me and starting sawing at the ropes like a Wug possessed. I looked up and saw the still stormy sky through the opening. Delph had three more ropes to slash. Harry Two clambered up onto the edge of the carriage and began to gnaw at one of them.

I looked around the interior of the carriage for the steering mechanism and the oars that would allow us to navigate. I mentally went through our plan and discovered about four thousand things that could go wrong.

When I heard the cannon being rolled down the passageway, I called out to Sieve, “How are you going to get out of here?”

He held up his claws and smiled, once more showing his stained, pointy teeth. “S’long as I have these, I have a way out.”