by Matt Forbeck
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
The 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.”
"What’s that?” she said, her lower lip poking out in a suspicious pout.
"I’m never going to stop trying to keep you safe, no matter how old you get.”
Espre tried to snarl at this, but she ended up grinning instead. "All right,” she said, putting her arm around Kandler’s waist. "
Just next time try to give me a bit of warning, eh?”
"Sure.” Kandler leaned down and kissed her on the top of the head.
"Ahoy, below!” Monja said as she stuck her head down through the hatch.
"Whaf is it?” said Kandler. He noticed Burch slide right down out of his hammock, ready for action.
"Land ho.” The halfling grinned. Then her head disappeared.
Kandler started up the ladder. Before he crawled out the hatch, he turned and said, "I’ll be back as soon as I can. Stay put here.” He looked at Espre. "Please.”
"All right,” she said with a wistful frown.
Up top, Kandler followed Monja out to the bow. Te’oma and Xalt stood there shading their eyes and peering out into the distance.
’Right there,” Xalt said, pointing toward the horizon straight ahead of them. "You can just see it.”
Kandler squinted, trying to ignore the red dragon flapping along ahead of the airship, and followed the direction of Xalt’s finger until he spotted it: land. They’d spend a long time out over the waves with nothing to see on any side but water, sky, and clouds. Despite the company they’d brought with them, the justicar felt like jumping with joy at the sight of the tops of the high mountains ahead, stabbing just out of the waves.
"Welcome to Seren Island,” Te’oma said. "Let’s hope it’s not the last place we ever see.”
Chapter
39
Kandler led the others back to the bridge where Sallah stood at the wheel. He saw sweat breaking out on her brow.
"The fire elemental doesn’t want to go this way,” she said. She'never took her eyes from the horizon in front of her, right where the mountains grew taller by the second.
"Can you point out that straying from the wake of that dragon in front of us will probably result in the ship’s destruction?” Xalt said.
"It wants to be destroyed,” Monja said in a far too chipper tone. "Remember?”
"Destroyed is one thing,” Te’oma said. "Being devoured by a pair of angry dragons is a whole new kind of awful.”
"Just keep the ship on course,” Kandler said, placing a hand on the lady knight’s arm. "I know you can do it.”
"Would you say you have faith in me?” Sallah said, a small smile on her lips.
Kandler grunted. "I don’t have faith in much more than my family and friends. I have faith in you.”
Sallah’s smile widened, but she didn’t say a word. She adjusted her grasp on the airship’s wheel, and her shoulders relaxed.
Kandler patted her on the back then stared out past the dragon high above their bow. There on the horizon, the mountains had grown larger and strung out wider across the edge of the sea. In the area closest to the airship, Kandler saw a strip of white sand. This wrapped around the island as far as he could see in either direction.
As they scudded through the sky, a bay appeared in the island, a sheltered natural harbor from which a clearing ran back from the beach. In the clearing stood a handful of low huts made of some kind of grass or bamboo that had turned silver in the harsh rays of the sun.
The lead dragon came in toward the huts hard and fast. Kandler looked at Sallah, who shrugged at him. With a dragon before and behind, she had little choice but to follow along.
For a moment, Kandler wondered if this might be some sort of trap. Then he realized how pointless it would be for the dragons to try to trap someone they could just as easily incinerate. The creatures might have something other than a simple death in mind for the people aboard the Phoenix, but whatever their fate was to be, he would have to be patient.
The dragon to the rear put on a burst of speed and zoomed past the airship. It flew on ahead and reached the tiny hamlet on the beach long before the airship and the dragon still escorting her would arrive.
Kandler suppressed an urge to attack the dragons. The soldier in him wanted to get the hostilities out in the open and dealt with as soon as possible. Had he not been entirely sure that this would result in instant doom for everyone else aboard the Phoenix, he might have given it a try.
Sallah urged the airship along and brought her to a halt over the beach. The dragon that had raced before them kept flying away, not even looking back. When Kandler glanced behind the Phoenix, the dragon that had been to her aft was no longer there.
"We must be here,” he said.
Kandler moved to the port rail and looked down at the land below. A trio of dragon-headed longboats sat on the shore, right in the safest part of the harbor’s gentle arc. They had been painted silver long ago, although the colors had worn badly below their waterlines. Sets of long oars lay stashed in each boat. None of them bore sails.
Beyond the huts stood a wooden palisade. Acarved dragon’s head topped each of the tall poles, bristling with teeth and spikes. Each shone in a different color, some glinting metallic, others not.
Human-sized skeletons, strung together with strips of leather hung from several of the poles, especially the ones nearest th'e gate, which stood closed. The hot sun had long since bleached the bones as white as Te’oma’s skin. The skulls bore holes and missing teeth, and the arms and legs were broken in many places.
There were no people on the beach, and the village beyond seemed empty as well.
"Should we just drop in on them?” Burch asked.
Kandler jumped at the shifter's voice then turned on him, mad. "I thought I told you to stay below.” As he spoke, he glared at Espre too, who stood behind the shifter.
Burch grinned. "We re here, aren’t we? Let’s get to it.”
"The place is empty, but there’s no sign of battle,” Kandler said as Sallah strode up. Past her, he saw Monja take the wheel. The halfling waved at him with a grin.
Although the path ahead lay filled with treachery and horrors, Kandler could see that the others were just as ready to move on as he. Spending nearly two weeks cooped on the Phoenix together had not been easy. There were few private spaces on the ship, and with the stress everyone was under they each had struggled to keep their tempers in check—everyone except Xalt, who didn’t seem to have one.
"Doesn’t that seem like a trap?” Sallah said.
"Of course it’s a trap,” Burch said. "We just have to walk into it to see what kind it is.”
"I’m coming with you,” Espre said.
Kandler grimaced. "No.” When she started to protest, he added. "No arguing this one.”
Espre clamped her lips shut and glared at Kandler. It surprised him that she had folded so easily, but perhaps this was part of the new maturity she wanted so desperately to display. In any case, he wasn’t about to argue with her about agreeing with him, no matter how much she might resent it.
Kandler pointed at Burch and Sallah. "You two are with me. Monja has the wheel. Xalt, you watch over Espre.”
He looked to the changeling and hesitated. He didn’t want to trust her, but he didn’t have much choice. She could be too useful to ignore. Besides, if she’d meant to betray them, she could have done so long before now—or so he hoped.
"I want you for air support. If we’re in trouble, you take to the skies and give us cover. There’s an extra crossbow and plenty of bolts in the hold. Use them.”
Te’oma turned on her heel and went for the hold without a word.
"I’ll go first, then Sallah,” Kandler said to Burch and Sallah. "Burch, you cover us until we’re on the sand, then follow fast. Got it?’
They both nodded.
Kandler strode for starboard gunwale and dropped a rope ladder over the side. A moment later, he clambered down it and dropped the last few feet to the hot, white sand.
The crashing of the surf behind him pounded in his ears, as did the strong, salty scent of the sea air. Walking along the dry sand reminded him of tramping through the ashes that had once filled the crater in which he had helped found Mardakine. While he’d hated the ashes, though, he had to fight the urge to throw himself down on the beach and embrace it.
The sun seemed hotter here i
n the thick, steamy air. Years living in the shadow of the Mournland had robbed his complexion of much of its color. The weeks aboard the Phoenix had bronzed his skin, protecting him now from the sun’s strong southern rays.
Strange, unseen creatures called in the distance, either welcoming the newcomers or warning them away. Bright, colorful birds—splashes of primary colors in a sunbleached land—flitted through the fronds of the tall, thin, branchless trees that lined the beach’s edge then disappeared in the thick tangle of a jungle beyond. A family of indigo-shelled crabs scattered at his arrival and scuttled away in a serpentine line.
A vermillion lizard darted out at them from its hiding hole in the sand, moving along on a dozen tentacles rather than legs. Before it could snatch one of the crabs up and make off with its meal, though, it spotted Kandler. The lizard stared at him for a moment with its bulging, green eyes then scampered off to the safety of the jungle instead.
Kandler raised his face toward the sky for a moment and basked in the sun. The breeze swirled about, cooling him and carrying the scent of roasting meat and exotic spices from past the palisades.
Up in the airship, the altitude had separated him from the surface world, insulating him. Here, setting foot on this strange, new beach, felt like stepping down on to another world—one bursting with life.
Sallah landed next to him. She made to draw her sword, but he put his hand on hers to stop her.
"If we wanted a fight, I’d have had Monja put the ship right over the town. We could have dropped down behind the palisades and killed everyone that came our way.”
"Why didn’t we do that?” Sallah asked.
"It’s rude,” Kandler said with a wry smile.
Looking up at the palisades that towered over the inland edge of the beach, though, Kandler wondered if he’d made a mistake. The bravado he’d shown Sallah had been designed to allay her nerves, although he suspected it had just irritated her instead. Still, he wasn’t ready to plunge into the heart of an unknown village without so much as a hello.
Perhaps he could have sent Te’oma out to scout the area from the air, but that might have invited the dragons back. Also, he preferred to not show the natives their full hand until they had to.
