Paul Collins - Swords Of Quentaris

The pirate quickly recovered from his own surprise and swiftly drew a curved sword that had been slung across his armoured back. But in his haste to dispatch the cowering Quentaran, he mis-judged his footing. For one perilous moment his skeletal arms windmilled as he fought to maintain balance.

Rad knew his own life hung in the balance as well and rushed forward. He expected to bounce back with the impact, but to his surprise he almost followed the pirate forward.

The pirate barely had enough time to thrust his sword before Rad barrelled into him and he fluttered backwards like a felled bat, then miraculously snapped the pommel of his sword on Rad's shoulder, and in the same fluid movement drew himself back from the abyss.

Rad tugged backwards, almost tripping over.

Barely thinking straight, he dragged his dirk from its sheath. Crouching low, he weaved the air with the blade. This much he had learnt from the many market fights he had witnessed: present as low a target as possible, be ready to spring instantly from left to right, act like an experienced street fighter. But how can you kill a thing that is all skin and bone?

Rad's opponent stopped for a moment. Then his sunken, bloodshot eyes seemed to laugh at Rad.

The skeletal figure slid forward like oil across a hot plate. Rad jumped back, barely avoiding the razor-sharp scimitar as it sliced the air.

Rad had never seen anything move so swiftly.

There was nothing to the pirate — he was wafer-thin, with a sickly pallor — but his reflexes were lightning fast.

It was blind terror that drove Rad back into the bell, which sounded weakly and bounced him forward; and pure luck that he ducked to one side as the pirate lunged with his scimitar.

The sword met the bell with a crash and jarred the pirate's gauntleted hand.

The bell rang stridently.

Rad seized the moment. He drove up and into the stunned pirate. He heaved with all his might until they stumbled into the parapet. A swift slash from the pirate's dagger ripped Rad's tunic and sent him reeling backwards. He dodged aside as the pirate slashed the air with his dagger, then rushed forward, using his head as a battering ram.

The pirate uttered something unintelligible as he tripped on the parapet and tumbled backwards.

Rad flinched at the muffled thump as the pirate's body hit the ground. He moved several times and for a wild moment Rad thought he might revive and scale the wall to get back at him, but after a few seconds he grew still.

Rad swung to face the bell — the one that would rouse the city's guards to fill the sky with their deadly arrows. He had barely taken a step toward the bell when the skyship's webbing nudged him as it passed.

Rad craned his neck and swallowed hard. The pirate craft was the size of a galleon, judging by

the stars it blotted out. An elongated balloon held it aloft. Rigging and small aft canvas sails flapped in the night air. Then he heard the fabled thing that powered the skyship — a sound very much like the buzzing of an angry insect. Somewhere up there a gigantic circle of swishing magicked steel would be pushing air against the sails. Or so said Quentaran scholars.

Everything was camouflaged black and Rad strained to make out the ship's full size as he watched it edge away into the night.

The tiny opening in the belly of the outlandish craft beckoned him. Should he chance it? He faced the bell. He would be hailed as a champion bellringer back at the barracks. He looked again at the hovering skyship. Up there could be something worthy of the Thieves'

Guild's awe. Besides, the bell had rung twice now, hadn't it?

Bellringer or thief? There really was no question as to his preferred profession.

The webbing moved away from the rooftop. It was already a body length away from the ledge.

Rad ran toward the ledge and jumped.

The chasm beneath yawned. Rad's feet paddled and his hands made swimming strokes. But the wind caught the webbing and pulled it from his clutching hands.

'Gah!' Rad screamed. His fingers brushed the silky webbing and for a split second he was afraid. He fell, but somehow his foot became entangled in the tail end of the webbing, causing him to swing upside down like a pendulum.

The world below kaleidoscoped.

Rad crunched his stomach and barely caught the third grid. With effort he pulled himself up, his head swimming with dizziness. He looked down —to see the broad expanse of the marketplace. There was no way but up.

Easier said than done! The wind was cold and bit hard, whipping the ladder into a frenzied live thing.

Rad scampered upwards as quickly as he could.

Twice he lost his footing, but his firm grip on the webbing saved him.

He pulled himself over the lip of the trapdoor.

The night air was gushing past and he knew that at any moment the craft's crew could set upon

him. Rungs rather than stairs led to the upper carriage.

On hands and feet he worked his way across the decking. How could anyone stand and keep their balance when the floor was tilting this way and that? The innards of the craft were strewn with rattling ropes that hung from rafters. Rad gained his footing and crept forward by clutching at ropes. This lower half of the craft looked like a storeroom. To house all their stolen goods, he thought bitterly.

A rafter screeched as the deck tilted. Rad tightened his grip on a dangling rope and instantly felt alarm. The skyship juddered and he nearly tumbled back across the deck and out of the open hatch.

He quickly clasped another rope to steady himself. By the dim lights of the cavernous craft, Rad saw that everything worth stealing was too large to carry. He didn't know what the huge objects were, but gathered by their shiny surfaces that they would be priceless down in Quentaris.

Fearfully, he approached an oblong case,

gripped its strange handle and pulled.

A chamber came out of the larger case and inside lay unusual wreaths of paper. One seemed lit with strange glyphs that made the others look dark in comparison. Reverently, Rad reached out to touch it.

Did he hear bells chiming? No matter — in his hands he held an artifact from a skyship! Now his dreams would be fulfilled ...

If the high-pitched whining from further along the belly of the flying ship broke Rad's reverie, the sudden lurching shattered it. His fingers closed around the magical sheet as the deck tilted alarmingly.

'Ugh!' he yelped.

The skyship lurched and Rad barely steadied himself before looping an arm over a rope.

He could hardly believe that he had stolen an artifact from a skyship. Elation almost swept him away, but the shuddering craft brought him to his senses. He made it to the hatch.

Fear filled Rad's lungs and he screamed it out.

Despite the screeching from the skyship, he heard Quentaran arrows thudding into the structure.

The spiralling view of Quentaris through the tiny hatch drew him like a magnet. Rather fall through that than crash inside the belly of a skyship!

On hands and knees now, Rad crawled to the hatch. He slipped his legs over the seal and swung down. Luckily the ladder was still hanging loose. Even as he watched, the webbed appendage began to fly back into some cavity in the hull. Rad scampered down it. Hand over hand, leg over leg. No matter how quickly he descended, the ladder was being tugged from him.

The flapping bottom grid was an arrow's flight from the ground — too far for him to drop to safety — and within reach of Quentaran archers!

As he considered this, a flight of flaming arrows rocketed skyward. They struck into the few timbers of the skyship while others bounced off its hardened black surface.

Flick! Flick! Flick! the flaming missiles went through the air. Each arrow struck home with a thud, making Rad flinch. Fire blossomed on the crippled ship, causing it to veer off course. Rad clung tightly as the ship tilted and dived.