Matt Forbeck - Marked for Death

Kandler tried to keep from laughing, but failed. Sallah joined in, and Esprл too. It was Burch who brought them back to earth.

“We’re still burning!” the shifter shouted.

“Good point,” Kandler said. He stood up behind Esprл and put his hands over hers on the ship’s wheel. “We need to land this thing fast.”

“Where?” asked Sallah.

Kandler scanned the land all around. There were no ponds, rivers, or even a stream in Majeeda’s valley. To the north, a series of low hills rolled away.

“Head over there,” Kandler said to Esprл. “We need to smother the flames. If we can skim the top of one of those hills we might be able to snuff the fire in the grass.”

“Or crash,” Burch said. He ran off to the bow of the ship to play scout. Sallah moved down to the main deck after him.

“Just give it a try,” Kandler said to Esprл. He knew they didn’t have much time, but scaring the girl would just cause her to freeze up. He needed her to be calm now, so he kept his voice modulated and cool.

“Too fast!” Burch called back.

Kandler looked out at the ground and saw it speeding toward the ship. “Take us back a little,” he said to Esprл. The ship’s nose yanked upward.

“Whoa!” Esprл said. Her voice was steadier than Kandler would have guessed. After a moment, he realized she was enjoying this.

“Easy,” Burch called back.

Kandler leaned over and pointed out a place that he thought they might be able to land, right along the crest of the first hill.

“This is fun!” Esprл said as she aimed for it.

Kandler smiled at her. The wind blowing in her long blonde hair reminded him of her mother again-her mother, the sorcerer. It seemed Esprл had inherited some of Esprina’s talents. He leaned over and gave her a small kiss on her on the cheek.

“You’re doing great,” he said. “Take it easy. I’m right here with you.”

Sober again, Esprл looked up at Kandler and nodded.

Kandler looked down and saw the ends of a leather belt hanging from around the wheel. He grabbed them and fastened them around both he and his daughter, then attached them to the wheel’s post. He called for Burch and Sallah to join them.

The shifter came bounding up with a big grin for Esprл. “Nice work, pup,” he said. He and Sallah found a set of leather straps mounted in the bridge railing and wound their wrists into them.

The hillcrest came rushing up at the ship. Kandler looked down at Esprл and saw her concentrating with all her might as she jutted out her chin and chewed on her lower lip. “Slow down just a bit,” he said quietly. “Just take it in right there.” He arced his hand as if it were the ship angling along the hill’s crest.

“We have all the time in the world,” Kandler said. It was a bad lie, and he knew that Esprл wasn’t fooled, but he hoped it calmed her nerves all the same.

The ship hit the hilltop hard. Had Kandler and Esprл not been wearing the wheel’s belt, they would have been thrown from the bridge. As it was, Kandler struggled to hold them both in place, his injuries screaming in protest.

“Hard to port!” Kandler said. “Left!”

Esprл almost jumped from between his arms, but the ship swung hard to port and ran the burning part of her hull against the hillside. She scraped along, the boards of her shell groaning in protest.

“Bring it up now,” Kandler said. The ship came off the hill and righted itself.

“Report!” the justicar said to the shifter.

Burch let go of the straps and peered over the side of the ship. “That did it!” he said. “The fire’s out!”

Kandler sighed with relief and he felt Esprл sink back into his arms. He hugged her tight, then said, “Bring her up just a bit.” The ship nosed higher into the sky.

Kandler undid the belt around himself and Esprл, then reattached it around the girl. Sallah removed her hands from the straps she’d used and came over to Esprл with a wide, proud smile.

“Where to now?” said Burch, who was scanning the countryside below. “I don’t see the changeling anywhere.”

“Sir Deothen!” said Sallah, as if ashamed the thought had just struck her. “We have to go back for them and the others.”

Esprл nodded and brought the ship around to point south again. Under Kandler’s direction, she headed for the south end of Majeeda’s valley but gave the mists surrounding her tower a healthy berth, keeping them always to the starboard.

Kandler marveled at the airship’s speed as she flew toward the other side of the valley, the heat blasting from the back end of the fiery ring pushing them along. Unhampered by the drag of the ocean’s waves, it moved faster than any seagoing ship. It seemed like the finest horse would be hard pressed to keep up with her, even on a flat stretch of land. The way she sailed straight and smooth above the valley floor was unmatchable.

As the ship came up on the spot where Kandler and the others had left the knights behind, he frowned. “I don’t see them,” he said.

Sallah climbed down from the bridge and ran out to the tip of the ship’s stem. She leaned over the bow and peered out at the long southern slope and into the valley. She stood up and pointed down.

“That’s where we were,” she said. “They’re gone!”

Kandler looked to Burch. “What’s your best guess?”

The shifter leaned over the nearest railing and gazed down at the terrain below. Although it was rock and hard-packed dirt near the chasm and mist-shrouded tower, beyond the sickly-looking grass sprouted again, and the soil was a bit softer.

“Trail’s clear,” the shifter said. “From here, I can see where horses trampled grass. They were moving fast.”

Kandler whispered something to Esprл, and the girl brought the ship back around until it was headed back toward the mound of mist.

“What happened?” Kandler asked.

Burch stared down over the railing and tried to decipher the signs scattered on the ground below.

“The changeling bolted that way,” the shifter said, pointing to the northeast. “Then the knights followed.” He stared off to the left and right. “They were posted all around tower, but they chased her together.” He jabbed his finger to the northeast again. “Into the hills.”

“That’s the way the changeling was headed before,” Kandler said.

“You’re going after them, aren’t you?” Sallah demanded as she rushed back from the bow. “We can’t just leave them out there.”

Kandler smiled. “What kind of rogues do you take us for?”

Sallah narrowed her eyes at the justicar. “The kind that might turn around as soon as they got what they came for.” She glanced at Esprл, still standing at the wheel. The girl blushed.

“That’s a good point,” Kandler said as he looked down at Esprл. “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” He reached out and put an arm around his daughter.

“You can’t be serious,” the lady knight said. “Without them you never would have gotten this far. You never would have rescued her.”

“Maybe,” Burch said. The others turned to look at him. “But I’m interested in something else.”

Sallah sneered at the shifter. “Getting home safe to the town that threw you in prison?”

Burch smiled at the knight, showing all his sharp teeth. “No,” he said. “I want that changeling’s head on my wall.”

“No!” Esprл blurted, taking her hands from the wheel. The ship bobbled in the air for a moment as if it had hit a rock. Esprл grabbed the wheel again, and the ship straightened out. “You don’t have to do that,” she said to Burch once she was back in control. “Not for me.”

Kandler wrinkled his brow at his Esprл. “This lady kidnapped you. She used you as a hostage. She could have killed you.”