Matt Forbeck - Marked for Death

“Step a little closer,” Kandler said, brandishing his blade. “I’ll give you a chance to tour the next world yourself.”

A shadow fell over the combatants. Even in the dimness of the Mournland, Kandler felt the change. He stabbed out at Superior, testing the warforged’s skill, and glanced into the sky as the inevitable parry came.

A smile split Kandler’s face as he looked back into Superior’s eyes. “Surprise,” he said.

The shadow grew larger around them. Superior stepped back out of Kandler’s range and looked up to see what had made the justicar so happy. He gasped and staggered back.

The other warforged looked up to see what had their leader’s attention. As one, they goggled at the airship as she sailed down at them from out of the sky.

“Scatter!” Kandler shouted. “The ring’s coming right for us!”

The warforged turned and ran. Brendis and Sallah started to follow, but Kandler reached out and hauled them back. “That was just to scare them off. Stick close to me. We’re hitching a ride as soon as that thing come down low enough.”

Sallah pointed to the rope ladder dangling down from the side of the ship. “We can’t all climb that at once. They’ll cut us to pieces.”

“That’s not the only way to get on that ship.” Kandler’s stomach flipped as he spoke. While he was thrilled to not be executed, the thought of Esprл diving so bravely into danger made him nauseous. He hoped Burch was with her.

Deothen stared at the justicar. “Where, by the light of the Flame, did you find an airship?”

Kandler herded the crew over to one side of where he thought the ship would land. “It wasn’t through a life of prayer,” he said.

Brendis stared at Sallah. “It’s the prophecy,” he said. “Only a fate as large as yours could command such fortune.”

“Quit yapping and get ready to jump on the lower arch when it hits the ground,” Kandler said. He didn’t know if the arch would come that close to the ground, but he hoped that Esprл and Burch would brave it.

“When it hits the ground?” Sallah said. “If that arch breaks, the entire ship might explode.”

“It’s that or the warforgeds’ blades. Take your pick.”

“I’ll go with you if I may,” said Xalt. Kandler could hear the pain in the warforged’s voice. “I think I’ve worn out my welcome here.”

Kandler glanced at the greaser and grinned. “It’s the least we can do.”

As the ship neared the ground, Kandler shoved the others ahead of him toward the fiery ring’s lower arch. “Hit it hard, and hold on tight!”

Superior looked back from the edge of camp where he’d fled and realized what was happening. “No!” he shouted. He launched himself toward the ship. The other warforged held back, unwilling to risk their lives to take on a flying ship in hand-to-hand combat.

The ship smashed into the ground with a loud crunch. The ring of fire flared out and scorched the nearby earth. A couple of warforged who had crept too close were engulfed in the flames, burned to metal-clad crisps before they had a chance to scream.

The rest of the warforged scattered before the landing-except for Superior. He charged at the escaping prisoners and slashed at them with it blade.

Kandler turned to face the warforged leader. He needed to buy the others some time or Superior would cut them all down as they fled. He parried the first blow, but Superior lowered his shoulder and plowed him back into the dirt. The justicar’s head landed less than a foot from the ring of fire.

“Get off!” Kandler roared at the creature trying to crush him. As the pair struggled, the others clambered onto the fiery ring’s lower restraining arch. Sallah boosted the battered knights and the wounded Xalt up ahead of her, then turned her attention to Kandler’s plight.

The justicar struggled to escape, but Superior laid into him with all its weight, pinning him down. It was all he could do to draw a ragged breath.

Kandler had a hand on the warforged’s sword arm, trying to keep the creature from impaling him on its blade. But he was no match for Superior’s strength, and the warforged pressed the tip of its sword inexorably toward the justicar’s throat.

Kandler knew he had to do something fast. He looked up and saw the ring of fire roaring only a few scant feet from his head. His hair smoldering from the heat, Kandler rolled away from the fiery ring as hard as he could. Determined to prevent his victim from getting away, Superior pressed back in the other direction with his full bulk.

Instead of continuing to struggle against the warforged atop him, Kandler switched directions and allowed Superior’s momentum to carry the warforged over him and into the fire. Immediately, Superior realized his mistake and clawed at Kandler to try to prevent himself from rolling over into the ring, but it was too late.

Superior screamed as the flames swallowed its head and shoulders. He tried to pull free from the fire, but Kandler held him there, the skin on his hands and arms blistering.

“See you in Dolurrh,” Kandler said as he shoved Superior off him. He scrambled away from the fiery ring and toward the restraining arch.

Sallah saw the justicar coming. She pounced upon the arch herself and reached back to give Kandler a hand up.

“Go, go, go!” Kandler shouted as soon as his feet left the ground. The airship leaped into the air. As she went, the carved wood of the mystic arch creaked, complaining about the abuse of the landing and the load of its passengers, but it held.

As the ship gained altitude, the warforged in the camp peeked out of their hiding places. Some of them brought out bows.

“Archers!” Sail ah shouted out above the noise of the raging fire.

Kandler smiled despite himself and shouted, “Hold on!”

The airship lurched skyward and leaned to port. Arrows whizzed past. The few that found any mark either lodged themselves in the restraining arch or incinerated on contact with the ring of fire. As the ship raced away, Kandler waved the warforged camp a heartfelt goodbye.

Just when Kandler began to relax, the maimed warforged who had risked his life to save the intruders slipped out toward the edge of the restraining arch. He hung from a corner of the arch for a split second, his feet swinging free in the sky. Kandler’s free hand darted out to him, catching him before he fell. Seeing the justicar’s predicament, Sallah grabbed the back of his belt with her free hand.

“Let go!” Xalt said. “I will survive the fall.”

“And then they’ll kill you,” said Kandler.

With Sallah holding onto his belt, the justicar reached out with both hands and pulled the warforged in. It wasn’t until later that he realized how easily he’d trusted the knight with his life.

An arrow bounced off Xalt’s carapace as he scrambled atop the arch. Xalt clung to the justicar with both arms as the ship veered back and forth in an effort to protect those on the arch from the arrows.

The airship soon sailed over the crest of the nearest hill and out of sight of the camp. She stopped bobbing and weaving, and Kandler extricated himself from the warforged’s viselike embrace.

The justicar looked out at the blasted hills of the Mourn-land below as a stiff breeze ruffled the green-gray grass that lined them like a day-old beard. The sky grew darker by the moment, and it would soon be pitch black again.

As the airship’s fiery ring propelled them forward, Kandler looked at the others in its hot, flickering light. Sallah tended to Brendis’ wounds while a battered Deothen looked on, waiting for the younger knights to be healed before he would call attention to his own injuries. Xalt held his severed finger in his good hand, examining both it and the damaged hand as he looked for a way to match them together.